Women's Empowerment and Decision-Making at the Household Level Neema, Murembe

Tilburg University

Women's empowerment and decision-making at the household level Neema, Murembe

Publication date: 2015

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Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

A case study of Ankore families in Uganda

PROEFSCHRIFT

ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan Tilburg University op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof. dr. E.H.L. Aarts, in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties aangewezen commissie in de Ruth First zaal van de Universiteit

op woensdag 6 oktober 2015 om 16.15 uur

door

Clementia Murembe Neema, geboren op 2 oktober 1961 te Ishaka, Oeganda

Promotor: prof. dr. Sjaak Kroon

Copromotores: dr. Veerle Draulans dr. Jef Van der Aa

Overige leden van de promotiecommissie: prof. dr. Joy Kwesiga prof. dr. Wouter van Beek prof. dr. Mirjam van Reisen dr. Marloes van Engen dr. Bertha Vallejo Carlos

Cover drawing by Charles Murembe Cover design and layout by Carine Zebedee

© Clementia Murembe Neema, 2015 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any other means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without permission of the author.

Table of contents

Preface 1

1 Gender inequality and women’s empowerment 5 1.1 Introduction 5 1.2 Gender inequality 5 1.3 Women’s empowerment and plan of action 10 1.4 Empowerment defined 12 1.5 Decision-making defined 17 1.6 Problem statement and research questions 20 1.7 Conclusion 21

2 Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 23 2.1 Introduction 23 2.2 Background information on Uganda 23 2.3 Traditional Ankore family practices 26 2.3.1 Marriage practices in traditional Ankore family relations 29 2.3.2 Education systems and gender relations in pre-colonial and colonial times 34 2.3.3 Production, resources and power relations in pre-colonial and colonial times 36 2.3.4 Mechanisms of family conflict resolution in pre-colonial and colonial times 41 2.4 Women’s empowerment in Uganda since 1986 44 2.4.1 Women’s empowerment in education 44 2.4.2 Women’s empowerment in economy 48 2.4.3 Women’s empowerment in policy 52 2.4.3.1 The constitution of Uganda and gender relations 53 2.4.3.2 Uganda’s political quota system and gender relations 55 2.4.3.3 The Domestic Relations Bill 58 vi Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

2.4.4 Legal institutions and the management of gender-based violence 62 2.4.5 Religious institutions and the status of women in family relations 67 2.4.6 The role of NGOs and other actors in women’s empowerment 68 2.5 Conclusions 73

3 Methodology 79 3.1 Introduction 79 3.2 Mixed methods 80 3.3 Ethnographic approach: People’s own voices 81 3.4 Field sites, participants and methods of participation 82 3.5 Quantitative methods 86 3.6 Qualitative methods 89 3.6.1 Focus group discussions 91 3.6.2 Interviews 93 3.6.3 Observations 94 3.7 Setup of results chapters: Topical analysis 95

4 Women’s position in changing marriage practices 97 4.1 Introduction 97 4.2 General characteristics of marriage practices 98 4.2.1 Age 98 4.2.2 Level of education 100 4.2.3 Polygamous practices 101 4.2.4 Family headship 104 4.2.5 Place of residence 106 4.2.6 Number of children 107 4.3 Traditional marriage practices in motion 110 4.3.1 Types of marriage 110 4.3.2 Initiation of marriage 116 4.3.3 The practice of enjugano 121 4.3.4 Venues of marriage celebrations 126 4.4 Conclusions 128

5 Women’s economic empowerment and decision-making in the family 131 5.1 Introduction 131

Table of Contents vii

5.2 Different types of IGA/Ps and implications for women’s decision-making 133 5.2.1 Government programs 133 5.2.2 Socially initiated programs 138 5.2.3 Individual initiatives 140 5.2.4 Couples’ self-realization projects 147 5.3 Women’s empowerment in Ankore families: Reality or rhetoric? 150 5.3.1 Women, public work environment and empowerment implications 151 5.3.2 Women’s additional obligations and empowerment implications 155 5.3.3 Women’s market economy participation and empowerment implications 161 5.3.4 Women’s incomes valued as means to other goals 163 5.3.5 Women’s empowerment: Exploitation and manipulation effects 167 5.4 Conclusions 171

6 Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes and resolutions of family conflicts 175 6.1 Introduction 175 6.2 Married couples and serious conflicts 176 6.3 Traditional causes of family conflict 177 6.3.1 Lack of basic life necessities 178 6.3.2 Childlessness 179 6.3.3 Hereditary diseases or habits and solution mechanisms 182 6.3.4 Problems of drunkenness and solution mechanisms 183 6.3.5 Wife-beating and its solution mechanisms 184 6.4 Traditional mechanisms for family conflict resolution 186 6.4.1 Temporary separation and kinsmen involvement 186 6.4.2 Traditional arbitration processes 187 6.4.3 Beating up the brother-in-law to defend the sister 188 6.4.4 Silence: Women’s strategy against open violence 189 6.4.5 Consultations with diviners and herbalists 190 6.4.6 Divorce and sustainability of family relations 195 6.5 Contemporary causes of family conflict 198 6.5.1 Monetary economy, financial constraints and poverty 198 6.5.2 Affluence and its challenges 199 6.5.3 Power struggle and control of family resources 200

viii Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

6.5.4 Multiple activities and conjugal obligations 201 6.5.5 Drunkenness 204 6.5.6 Poor communication systems 204 6.6 Contemporary mechanisms for family conflict resolution 204 6.6.1 Resilient traditional methods 205 6.6.2 Legal institutions and mechanisms 208 6.6.3 Recommended mechanisms 217 6.7 Conclusions 218

7 Discussion and conclusion 221 7.1 Introduction 221 7.2 Discussion of results 221 7.3 Limitations 226 7.4 Implications 228 7.5 Final conclusion 230

References 233

Summary 251

Tilburg Dissertations in Culture Studies 255

Preface

Research on women and family relations in Africa is a complex matter. It involves obtaining married people’s own viewpoints and those of several other stakeholders in order to respond to persistent gender inequalities. It was not easy to put together women’s empowerment policies and married women’s possibilities to make decisions on use, control and ownership of family resources relative to their husbands’ power. This work involved several stakeholders and approaches, which I must say, I had underestimated at first. I had delays, needed rearrangement and an entirely new planning for a better write- up management. Therefore, this research deserved more time and focused attention than I originally envisaged. It is imperative and necessary to remember the process I have gone through and therefore, thank and appreciate the efforts of several people that guided, supported and encouraged me to move on, and most important those that created the environment in which completion of this intellectual journey became a reality. To begin with, I thank God for his mighty plans and all that I have been able to sail through to date. I am greatly indebted to Mbarara University of Science and Technology for its continued willpower, including financial, physical and psychological support towards my doctoral studies for which I registered in 2004. Sincere thanks go to Dr. Pamela Mbabazi and the NUFFIC three-month support at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) in 2008. The three months were more or less the beginnings of having a consolidated period of write-up with scholarly guidelines of Professor Marysse Stefaan of the Institute of Management-IOB and Dr. Danielle de Lame from the African Museum in Brussels. I cannot forget Professor F.B. Kayanja’s astute discussions and decisions, which kept me strong-minded and committed to this research process. Mr. Steven Bazirake, thanks for your parental encouragement and for being a friend. In an entirely different but equally worthwhile measure, I must sincerely acknowledge the amount of work and input of my first internal supervisor, 2 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

Professor Peter Kanyandago, Deputy Vice Chancellor of Uganda Martyrs University. May your devotion and adeptness remain a gift to benefit other scholars looking up to you for guidance. I am very grateful to several volunteer anonymous readers’ contributions, but most especially to sociologists Professor Tarsis Kabwegyere and Professor Mushanga, and to my sister Imelda Mbabazi Nyinebirungi and Byambwenu John who as English teachers transformed the very first sketch into a draft copy of this thesis. I also express my special thanks to Fr. B. Zabajungu who edited the first draft into a readable script. I sincerely thank Professor J.C. Kwesiga whose discussions, guidance and expertise in gender studies helped me to analyze African feminism and emerging issues from Western perspectives of women’s empowerment. Despite your limited time as the Vice Chancellor of Kabale University, your review comments gave me insights to develop my own arguments on women’s empowerment and decision-making of women in Ankore families. I must sincerely register my special gratitude to all my study participants whose valuable contributions and unreserved personal shared experiences in marital and family relations, considered private in Ankore traditions, are compiled in this research. Your voiced out lived experiences are a contribution to an understanding of Ankore family relations for other married couples. On a similar note, I am very grateful to Dr. Charles Muchunguzi, Dr. Rogers Bariyo and Dr. Cleophas Karooma Kansiime, staff in the Faculty of Development/ Institute of Interdisciplinary Training and Research at Mbarara University of Science and Technology who assisted me in conducting interviews and forum group discussions. Thanks for your valuable time, support and expertise in handling group dynamics, especially when we were overwhelmed with participants’ big turn-ups. Furthermore, my sincere thanks to my research assistants Mr. David Ajuna, Mr. Francis Mwijukye, Mr. Lestedio Mujuni, Mr. Andrew Musinguzi, and Ms. Carolyn Natukunda, who footed the stony hills and marshy valleys in the area of study, as they distributed and collected questionnaires, interviewed respondents and/or took notes during interviews and forum group discussion sessions. I am greatly indebted to all those that hosted my team during the field data collection. Particularly, I am grateful to Dr. Sr. Prisca Kobusingye’s hospitality for accommodating me the many times that I would be in Uganda Martyrs University for consultations with my supervisor or for private readings. The sleepless nights, as we worked on our theses, were fruit- ful. As mentioned earlier, the broader perspectives of this study and the underestimation together with other life constraints of balancing this study with my job, family and social obligations, almost made me give up on this long

Preface 3 overdue research. As a God-sent redeemer, Dr. Bertha Vallejo of Tilburg University came to Mbarara University of Science and Technology in 2010 to offer a refreshing ‘research methods course’ to PhD students, which rekindled my energy to complete this thesis. In a very special way, therefore, I most sincerely thank Bertha, who initiated new opportunities not only in the form of NUFFIC financial support, but also by providing a conducive reading atmosphere outside my home and work environment, and negotiated for a team of expert supervisors. This new environment exposed me to excellent library facilities, special computer packages and courses, especially a course on narratives in qualitative research, which lightened my challenges. I would not have gained all these, had it not been for Bertha’s great patience and great heart. In a similar account, I am greatly indebted to my supervisors and mentors at Tilburg University, who willingly accepted to take me on as their student in 2012. Professor Sjaak Kroon, I must say I was really humbled by your skill to instantly conceptualize issues in my study during our first meeting. With your expertise, I was able to discover my own loopholes, and I thank you for that gift. Dr. Veerle Draulans, I was greatly motivated by your competence and patience with which you guided me to manage my study. Thanks for directing me in my learning process, in a new environment and with personal challenges. You were not only a supervisor but also my counselor and it created a difference in my life. Dr. Jef Van der Aa, it is your experience and acumen in qualitative research that reawakened my mind to move ahead faster with my study than I could imagine. I thank you for sharing your wisdom and bringing me on board of a team of qualified qualitative investigators as a result of which I can now ably assist others. Above all, thanks for welcoming me into your home and introducing me to your family members. Surely, in Turnhout, I had a home in Europe, away from my home in Mbarara, Uganda. I will also not forget to thank Professor Talman, a neighbor in my office in K-building 519, for his kindness to print out marked hard copy chapters of my thesis. Your benevolent assistance reduced the pressure on my eyes, which otherwise I would have gone through by reading from the computer screen. Primrose Nakazibwe and the Ethiopian PhD colleagues with whom I was on the NUFFIC program in Tilburg University between 2012 and 2014, I would be very unfair to you if I forgot to thank you for the humane support (obuntu) that you showed to me when I lost my dear ones. It was surely a time of need and you filled the gaps as kinsmen. As ever my family has provided unwavering support, always ready to sacrifice and push me upwards, especially the number of times I would run out of energy. Usually, it is assumed that scholarly work is a personal venture, but

4 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level this study has proved otherwise. It has proven to be a group exercise involving family members, friends and beyond. My relatives, especially Afande Miria Atuhe, the family of Dr. Posiano and Virginia Plan Mugyenyi, Spera Atuhairwe, Judith Musiime Ayebare, Carol Asiimwe, Helen Mbabazi Wairama, Stella Kentutsi, Constance Wakoba and finally my son in law Bryan Toshi Bwana, thanks a million. For the many times that you have had to host me in Kampala, take me to or wait to bring me home from Entebbe airport, usually at awkward hours. This is not a right to be taken for granted, but a privilege of having a sacrificing family network with cordial relationships. To my children, Polyne, Daphine, Phillip and Timothy, sometimes I failed my parenting role by not always being an available and a reachable mother to you. I appreciate your understanding when the going would get tougher. I treasure and love you all, but work harder in your careers; the sky is no longer the limit. Particularly, Polyne, thanks for taking on all circumstances that necessitated you to step in my shoes and handle the joys and hardships that occurred while I was away. You proved a woman that I would love to see in my footsteps. To all my other children in the family, Rose, Angela, Julius, Mary, Earnest, the same experience must have happened; therefore the same advice applies. In the African sense, to all of you my parents, sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews and in-laws, in case you found me stressed up or not welcoming and therefore not ready to attend to you as it should be in the Ankore family relations, take it easy and forget about it. Last, but most important, I am heavily indebted to my husband Mr. Charles Murembe for being strong and remaining supportive in all aspects, till the end of this study. I thank you for your high sense of responsibility in our family, especially in caring for our children and being there for the entire family. Knowing the value of education, despite the terrible accident that took my sister Imelda and which almost took your life, you never lost track of our mission. You advised me to proceed with my career, leaving you in the hands of God and relatives, especially the families of Rose and David Bashakara, and Plan and Posiano Mugyenyi. For sure, I owe you a lot and by God’s grace, my rewards are in having a stable marital and family relationship together.

Mbarara, July 2015 Clementia Murembe Neema

CHAPTER 1 Gender inequality and women’s empowerment

1.1 Introduction

This thesis is about women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level in Ankore families in Uganda. In this first introductory chapter I will go into the issues of gender inequality and empowerment from a more general perspective in order to provide the background information necessary to put the problem statement and research questions of this study in proper perspective. Gender discrimination and the subordinate position of women in relation to men have not only attracted worldwide attention but have also influenced policies and guidelines to empower women for improved gender relations at international, national, local and family levels (European Commissions, 2012; UNDP, 2012a). While my study on women’s empowerment and gender relations in decision-making is on Ankore families as a case study, gender inequality is a global problem. Empowerment of women, therefore, is advocated as a crucial intervention strategy for transforming worldwide gender inequality and discrimination against women (UN General Assembly, 1979; UNDP, 1995). This chapter navigates global literature on gender inequality and women’s empowerment and operationalizes the concepts of empowerment and decision-making. It explains empowerment measurement challenges, states the research problem and asks the research questions that focus on women’s decision-making power relations with their husbands as a measure of their empowerment at a family or household level.

1.2 Gender inequality

For centuries women worldwide have been treated differently from men in many ways, though in different contexts (Puri, 1999; Rao, 2012; Rmuse, 2011; Smith & Byron, 2005; Sokhi-Bulley, 2006). For instance, while Asian 6 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level countries, India and Africa are traditionally patriarchal and affected by colonial histories and poverty, the United States of America has a different political, sociological and economic setup. One would expect differences in responses to women’s empowerment, due to such differences. Contrary to this expectation, however, while women in the US have made progress in civil rights and education attainment, gender inequality in parliamentary seats, employment opportunities, salary payments and the economic sector are still evident (Pelosi & De-Lauro, 2013; Rmuse, 2011; Sherwood, 2010; UNDP, 2011b). Addi- tionally, Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia is noted to have pointed out that women are not protected by the “equal protection” clause in the 14th amendment of the US constitution (Rmuse, 2011). As Grewal and Kaplan (2009) show, even in Britain women were still struggling for the right to vote in the late nineteenth century. Similarly, in Norway, said to be a beacon of progress in women’s empowerment and general welfare, there is still a long way to go, according to Smale (2013, p. 2). When considering Asian countries, gender relations are no better. Although my study is not comparative and thus does not give details on historical, economic and cultural aspects of different Asian countries, references made to India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and the Asian regions indicate that women are denied basic rights and needs solely because they are women (Agarwal, 1997; Batliwala, 1993; Dasarathi, 2006; Johnson & Johnson, 2001; Malhotra, Schuler & Boender, 2002; Mani, 1990; Rao, 2012: Smith & Byron, 2005). Moreover, persistent gender inequalities exist even when there are registered increases in the numbers of women benefiting from empowerment strategies (Akosua, Beoku-Betts & Osirim, 2008; Areeparampil, 2009; Chen, Huq & D’Souza, 1981; Haataja, Leinonen & Mustakallio, 2011; Infoplease.com, 2013; Rocca, 2010; UNDP, 2012b). In the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) report, education is considered an important means of empowering women and eliminating gender disparity (UNDP, 2012c). The MDG report on education indicates that even though some regions lag behind, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, gender inequality had improved at primary education levels by 2005 and is hoped to be attained at all levels by 2015 (UNDP, 2012c). For instance, the MDG report shows that girls have benefitted most in primary education, especially in the 2000s, with the gender parity index (GPI) growing from 91 percent in 1999 to 97 percent in 2010 for developing regions (UNDP, 2012c). The report associates narrowing gender gaps in primary education levels with the equal opportunity provided to boys and girls through universal primary education. However, the same MDG report reveals that girls face more barriers at the

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment 7 secondary level of education than at the primary level due to increased costs, and also to early marriages and gender discriminations in the family such as tendencies for male-child preferences that still exist (UNDP, 2012c). Worldwide, the under-five mortality rate of children of mothers with no education is higher than that of children of mothers with secondary or higher education (UNDP, 2012c). As such, the MDG report reveals that due to improved mothers’ education, the prevalence of stunted children in sub-Saharan Africa decreased from 44 percent in 1990 to 29 percent in 2010 (UNDP, 2012c). However, while mothers’ access to education may be a survival factor for under-fives, studies indicate that there is no guarantee that it directly translates into women’s own protection and gender equality, as violence against educated women has persisted (Areeparampil, 2009; Kashambuzi, 2012; UNDP, 2011c, 2012d). Economically, the MDG report reveals that since the World Bank started monitoring poverty trends, rates and numbers of people living in extreme poverty decreased considerably in developing countries, including in sub- Saharan Africa. For instance, the UNDP report (2012b) indicates that globally the percentage of people living on less than $1.25 a day fell from 47 percent in 1990 to 24 percent in 2008, with 110 million fewer people living in conditions of extreme poverty in 2005. Furthermore, according to the MDG report, globally the number of poor people in developing countries fell from 2 billion in 1990 to less than 1.4 billion in 2008 (UNDP, 2012c). However, while the MDG report indicates global economic improvement, gender inequality persists and women continue to face discrimination in access to formal employment. For instance, the MDG report also notes that women are far more likely than men to be engaged in vulnerable and informal employment. For example, the gap between women’s and men’s vulnerable employment in North Africa is 44 percent, with 70 percent of women in jobs classified as vulnerable (defined as the total percentage of unpaid family work and self-employed work in total employment) compared to 26 percent of men (UNDP, 2012c). However, the ratio of vulnerable employment remained highest for both genders in sub- Saharan Africa, reaching 85 percent for women and 69 percent for men (UNDP, 2012c). Politically, by the end of January 2012, women accounted for 19.7 percent of parliamentary seats worldwide (UNDP, 2012c). This amounts to a nearly 75 percent increase since 1995, when women held only 11.3 percent of seats worldwide (UNDP, 2011b, 2012a). Furthermore, in the 2011 elections, more than 50 percent of parliamentary seats worldwide were won by women (UNDP, 2011b). Accordingly, women are represented in greater numbers where quota

8 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level systems guaranteeing them a certain proportion of positions are practiced than they are in general electoral systems, an indication that the use of a quota system is a very important strategy for women’s political empowerment (Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2012; Gihan, 2003; Maboreke, 2003; Tripp, Casimiro, Kwesiga & Mugwa, 2009). It is worth noting that while the rate of women in key political positions remains low worldwide, overall trends point to an increase in women’s parliamentary representation in East Africa (UNDP, 2011b, 2012c). Moreover, sub-Saharan Africa is ranked as the second highest region with women representatives in parliaments (Tripp, 2003; Tripp et al., 2009; UNDP, 2012b). Table 1.1 gives an overview of some selected sub-Saharan African countries with no relationship between the numbers of women in national parliament and the given Gender Inequality Index value in 2011.

Table 1.1 Women parliamentarians and gender inequality indices in selected sub- Saharan countries Country Gender Inequality Index Percentage of female Rank Value seats in national parliament Botswana 102 0.507 7.9 Namibia 84 0.466 25.0 Ghana 122 0.598 8.3 Congo 132 0.628 9.2 Kenya 130 0.627 9.8 Angola NA NA 38.6 Tanzania 119 0.590 36.0 Uganda 116 0.577 37.2 Rwanda 82 0.453 50.9 Sudan 128 0.611 24.2 Source: Designed by the author based on Statistical Annex Table 4, Gender Inequality Index (UNDP, 2011b, p. 141)

From Table 1.1, other than Angola in Southern Africa with 38.6 percent of women parliamentarians, women in East African countries are generally better represented in parliament than in other regions in Africa, yet their gender inequality indices have not equally improved, except in the case of Rwanda, valued at 0.453. Research indicates that while the quota system has increased the visibility of women in public space, traditionally a male domain, it has not necessarily solved gender inequalities and domestic violence in family relations (Agarwal, 1997; Akosua et al., 2008; Tamale, 2003a; UNDP, 2011c, 2012d).

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment 9

A close analysis of East Africa’s inspiring results of women’s empowerment through political quota systems reveals several shortfalls. For example, a comparison of Rwanda’s experience, as the best-performing country in the 2011 report with 50.9 percent women holding national parliamentary seats, to Namibia’s 25 percent or Botswana’s 7.9 percent, in relation to their gender inequality indices ranked at 82, 84 and 102 respectively, suggests that political participation does not directly and necessarily translate into gender equality. If it did, there would be a bigger difference in Rwanda’s and Namibia’s or Botswana’s gender inequality indices in terms of ranks and values. Rwanda registered the lowest Gender Inequality Index of 82, valued at 0.453 compared to its second runner-up, Uganda, which ranked at 116 and had a value of 0.577. Moreover, Namibia, with only 7.9 seats, is ranked at 102, with a value of 0.507 (UNDP, 2011b). Although Uganda has more women parliamentarians than Namibia, its gender inequality value is much higher. As some studies indicate, such discrepancy suggests that higher numbers of women in parliament do not guarantee improvement in gender inequalities at the household level per se (Kashambuzi, 2012; Muhumuza, 2002; Mushemeza, 2009). Furthermore, whereas approximately 90 percent of farmers in Rwanda are women, Kanakuze (2003) argues that due to gender differences, it is more difficult for them to own land and to get capital to purchase inputs such as fertilizers, improved seeds and pesticides or to access loans and agricultural extension services. More so, women are unable to market their products, let alone control the proceeds from their efforts (Kanakuze, 2003; UNDP, 2011a). Yet, according to Table 1.2 presenting the Gender Inequality Index and related indicators in East African countries, in Rwanda the gap between females and males age 25 with education at the secondary level is narrower than in any of the other neighboring countries (UNDP, 2011b). Moreover, in Rwanda and Burundi, women are represented in the labor force more than men: 86.7 percent women vs. 85.1 percent men, and 91.0 percent women vs. 87 percent men, respectively (UNDP, 2011b).

10 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

Table 1.2 Gender Inequality Index and related indicators in selected East African countries

2009

2011

2005

2010

al mortality ratio

25 with secondary

er Inequality

2009

elow ate

ercentage populationof

Country Gend Index2011 Percentage femaleof seats in parliament P B education Laborparticipation force R Percentage ofby labor skilled attendants Matern 2008

Rank Value Female Male Female Male Uganda 116 0.577 37.2 9.1 20.8 78.3 90.6 42.0 430 Kenya 130 0.627 9.8 20.1 38.6 76.4 88.1 44.0 530 Tanzania 119 0.590 36.0 5.6 9.2 86.3 90.6 43.0 790 Rwanda 82 0.453 50.9 7.4 8.0 86.7 85.1 52.0 540 Burundi 89 0.478 36.1 5.2 9.2 91.0 87.0 34.0 970 Source: Designed by the author based on Statistical Annex Table 4, Gender Inequality Index (UNDP, 2011b, p. 141)

When comparing Rwanda and Burundi with other East African countries, there is no relationship between gender disparities in education at the secondary level, women parliamentary representation and the employment sector (UNDP, 2011b). A deeper contextual study could offer an explanation of such differences. But since my study is not a comparative analysis of women’s empowerment in different countries, I will not dwell on the East African countries beyond the proportional figures presented in Table 1.2.

1.3 Women’s empowerment and plan of action

The beginning of women’s empowerment is related to the United States of America’s civil rights movement of the 1960s, which resulted in a new consciousness of women’s rights (Narayan, 2002; Sokhi-Bulley, 2006; UNDP, 2012a). According to the United Nations, the consciousness of women’s rights increased the appreciation of and the focus on women’s role in development as reflected in the goals and priorities of organizations and agencies in the United Nations systems (UN General Assembly, 1993; UNDP, 1995, 2012a, 2012b, 2012c). Additionally, in accordance with the women’s empowerment guide-

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment 11 lines of UN POPIN (1985) and UN Women & UN Global Compact (2011), women’s empowerment became indispensable in the declarations and plat- forms for the actions of several other United Nations conferences, namely Education for All (1990), Environment and Development (1992), Human Rights (1993), Population and Development (1994), the World Summit for Social Development (1995) and the Fourth World Conference on Women (1995) (UNDP, 2012a, 2012b). In this regard, therefore, the United Nations agencies are credited with having spearheaded the quest for gender equality, equity and women’s empowerment. Although the origins of women’s empowerment can be found in the more than 30 years of work performed by a commission established in 1946 to promote women’s rights (UN General Assembly, 1979), according to the UN General Assembly (1988) report, the basis of women’s empowerment can largely and specifically be attributed to the United Nations Women’s Conven- tion on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1979. Moreover, CEDAW is the central reference and the most compre- hensive document that resulted in several other declarations (UN General Assembly, 1979) and women’s rights movements (UNDP, 2012a). The United Nations CEDAW was ratified by more than 150 states and laid a foundation for an international women’s law of human rights that transcends the borders of national, religious and customary laws (UN General Assembly, 1979). Following the 1946 commission’s findings showing that women were denied equality to men, it became the mission of the Assembly to ensure the rights of every woman to health (Article 12), education (Article 10) and work (Article 13), and to marry, to found a family and to divorce (Article 16) on an equal basis with men (Kristen & Marsha, 2000; UN General Assembly, 1979; UN Global Compact, 2011). It is noteworthy that the social, cultural, political, economic and historical differences in all those countries that ratified the CEDAW were ignored, assuming that male dominance in different nations was similar and linked in context and hence could be addressed in a similar way. As such, the suggested “sisterhood” of women’s empowerment has created a series of problems regarding its implementation and implications in the different countries (Akosua et al., 2008; Amadiume, 1987; Gordon, 1996; Grewal & Kaplan, 2009; Mikell, 1997; Oyèrónkẹ́, 1997). Furthermore, the report of the 1946 commission on the status of women led to conferences on women’s rights in Mexico (1975), Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985) and Beijing (1995) (UNDP, 2012a). Of these conferences, the one in Beijing was the most fundamental since its action plans have remained

12 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level central to women’s empowerment and development goals (UNDP, 1995, 2012b, 2012c). It is important to note here that tendencies of ethnocentrism and the orientalism by Western women of women in non-Western societies as “others” and inferior victims of “barbaric” and “uncivilized” cultures were evident from the start (Amadiume, 1997; Grewal & Kaplan, 2009; Mikell, 1997; Mohanty, 1991). With such perceptions, women from the West or “first world,” suppos- edly having a superior culture, took it upon themselves to “rescue” and “civilize” non-Western women of the “third world” who seemed not to have the power and the knowledge to oppose the hierarchies of power and male dominance. As such, the elitist and civilizing mission of the “West” towards the “non-West other”, irrespective of socio-economic, political and cultural differences, undermined the global “sisterhood” in the empowerment struggles right from the start (Grewal & Kaplan, 2009; Mikell, 1997). Moreover, even then, there were disagreements on the stand made by the United States and other countries concerning reproduction rights, such as abortion, which led some countries to withdraw their membership (Cargile & Bolkan, 2013; Illia, Lurati & Casalaz, 2013). Consequently, as Mushemeza (2009) argues, ethnocentric tendencies in the intercultural grouping of women became obvious from the beginning, which hindered the participation of some states. Indeed, evaluation reports from the United Nations indicate that by the end of 1981, only 99 nations had appended their signature to be bound by CEDAW provisions, and 187 stayed on as parties with no signatory commitment (UN General Assembly, 1988). The membership status of CEDAW as of June 2013 had not changed (UN Treaty, 2013). However, despite the ethnocentric controversies, according to UN Entity for Gender Equality reports, there has been increasing recognition of women’s rights and the centrality of women’s empowerment in development programs (UNDP, 2012a). As empowerment and decision-making are core concepts of my study, I will now define them and explain how they are used.

1.4 Empowerment defined

In an attempt to avoid top-down approaches and donor-centered development, the term empowerment was initially related to the support given to local people’s initiatives to improve their own conditions (Chambers, 1983; Freire, 1970; Parpart, Shirin & Staudt, 2002). Since development encompasses all spheres of life, the term empowerment evolved and came to be used widely in economic, political, socio-cultural and welfare contexts to mean different

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment 13 things (Narayan, 2002; UN Peace Women, 2008; UNDP, 2012c). As a result, empowerment became a multifaceted concept that may not be distinctively defined. For instance, whereas Narayan (2002, p. xviii) defines empowerment as “the expansion of assets and capabilities of the poor people to participate in, negotiate with, influence, control and hold accountable institutions that affect their lives,” the European Commission (2012, p. 7) defines it as “a process where the previously excluded individuals and groups increase their power to participate and take control over decisions that affect their lives on individual, group and societal levels.” Although both definitions refer to empowerment in terms of the power to participate, the former considers economic power of central importance for poverty reduction whereas the latter focuses on the inclusion of formerly excluded people to gain power in policy and influencing decisions (Kabeer, 1999a). However, although a close review of several definitions of empowerment reveals a diversity of ideas related to social, economic, political and cultural contexts, there are similarities as well. For instance, the World Bank’s views of empowerment are related to those of UNICEF and the United Nations framework, as they all focus on economic issues of access and control of resources, overcoming inequalities in political participation, gaining decision-making power, and developing capacity to overcome obstacles in order to reduce structural gender inequalities (Narayan, 2002; UNDP, 1995, 2012a, 2012c; Woodroffe & Smee, 2012). Similarly, although for Rowlands (1997, p. 14) empowerment is explored at different levels, including individually or collectively, it also involves gaining capacity and a sense of self-confidence to negotiate and influence decisions. Likewise, Kabeer’s (1999a, 1999b) understanding of women’s empowerment in terms of potential choices seems similar to Sen’s (1999) of attained freedom.1 This is because Sen’s freedom is that to choose and make decisions for better outcomes. Equally, Nussbaum’s (2000) capability approach to empowerment relates to the freedom with which a given society or a particular people set their goals, which they are able to achieve using means that are

1 For Sen (1999), empowerment is an interdependent bundle of five freedoms, including: (1) political freedom and civil rights, (2) economic freedom with opportunities to access credit, (3) social opportunities in health care, education and other social services, (4) transparency guarantees and accountability of what is expected in relation to what is offered by government and private sectors, and (5) protective security, including: unemployment, emergency relief and general safety network. Kabeer (1999b) refers to the same bundle but instead includes four empowerment elements: (1) access to information through education and economies, (2) inclusion and participation in politics, (3) accountability, and (4) local organizational capacity in institutions or places that manage disagreements (conflict resolution).

14 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level available and affordable to them (see also Comim, 2012; Panzironi & Gelberhe, 2012). As such, the capability approach focuses on human dignity as an end, not as a means to attain other goals (Nussbaum, 2000). In the same way, Freire’s (1970) empowerment of poor people in the context of development also refers to freedom, capabilities and acceptance of changes by the beneficiaries that they effectively want to own and defend. The logic and justification for freedom and capabilities in the empowerment process is that imposed changes are susceptible to resistance and opposition, hence not sustainable or attainable for some people or societies in real situations (Freire, 1970; Hedge & Mackenzie, 2012; Nussbaum, 2000). Beyond the diversity in definitions of empowerment and the similarities in the intended outcomes, there is an emphasis on a self-initiated process of empowerment from within. For instance, Batliwala’s (1993, p. 130) inter- pretation of empowerment specifies a process of challenging existing power relations to gain greater control over the sources of power. This definition suggests that the discriminated people themselves are to challenge the existing inequalities, if they deem it necessary. Similarly, Narayan (2002, p. 14) argues that the affected individuals, community and associations are to participate and influence the decisions that affect their lives and to create an environment that facilitates such outcomes. As Kabeer (1999a) argues, once the process is started from within the society or by women themselves, it is hoped that they will be supported by other actors (which is termed as “power with”), such as the government or Civil Society Organizations (CSO), in the struggle process to (“power to”) be in control over (“power over”) their decisions. Such an outcome is only possible if the intended beneficiaries (both women and men) see the necessity to change and call for external support. However, the historical development of women’s empowerment makes clear that its expansion is mainly externally induced. And as most studies argue, the cultural institution of patriarchy is still strong and resistant to the implementation of foreign legislation and mitigation measures (Gordon, 1996; Hussain, Khattar & Khan, 2008; Mikell, 1997; Mushemeza, 2009; Oyèrónkẹ́, 1997; Rowlands, 1997). Moreover, the possible implications of the way in which women’s empowerment processes are developed and how they affect both men and women, especially at the family level, are still largely ignored (Agarwal, 1997; Blumberg, 1991; Karl, 1995; Mushemeza, 2009; Steil, 1997; Wyrod, 2008). Seen from that perspective, Parpart (2010) questions women’s power to challenge the patriarchal systems of which they are part. Moreover, women’s choice to use a confrontational voice or opposing force (Kabeer, 1999b, 2005) to challenge existing power relations (Batliwala, 1993) may

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment 15 attract wrath and even greater resistance from men (Parpart, 2010). As such, the power of silence is also suggested as an option for empowerment, though not as a sign of giving up or powerlessness, but rather as a survival strategy when challenging masculinity (Blumberg, 1991; Karl, 1995). It is important to note, however, that the diversity in the approaches and meanings of empowerment does not render the concept meaningless. There- fore, based on the existing definitions and in the context of this study (married women within family relations), I define empowerment as a process and outcome of beneficiaries’ own efforts, in this case women and men, playing complementary roles in family activities and decisions in the ownership, use and control of family resources, taking the lead (individually and collectively) to change existing power relations in their family structure and their societies that disadvantage them and that they have reasons to discard. This definition makes empowerment contextually relative to the beneficiaries’ differences, practices and interests that they have reasons to respect and maintain. This thinking is in consideration of past historical experiences that have affected both men and women in family relations in the context of the given (Ankore) culture. Besides, my study’s focus is married women who cannot be empowered in isolation, but only in the context of family relations that involve several stakeholders, including their husband, children and other family members (Greenstein, 2006). Furthermore, the definition incorporates ideas of the existing definitions of empowerment, which include beneficiaries’ interests, free will, being in control of events, self-strength and reliance, life of dignity in accordance with one’s means and values, capability of fighting for one’s rights, autonomy, independence, self-discovery, decision-making, being convinced to change, and having the capability and the means to do so (Kabeer, 1999a; Narayan, 2002; Panzironi & Gelberhe, 2012; Sen, 1999). Moreover, it accounts for masculine, societal and cultural resistance of orientalism and ethnocentrism from the West (Amadiume, 1997; Grewal & Kaplan, 2009; Mikell, 1997; Oyèrónkẹ́, 1997; Panzironi & Gelherbe, 2012) and individual families’ capabilities (Nussbaum, 2000). Minus these elements, women’s empowerment at the family level remains a myth and a desired mission. Having dealt with the definition of empowerment, I will now move to the challenging and highly controversial issue of the measurement of empowerment. According to Mahmud, Shah and Becker (2012), despite almost two decades of concerns about women’s empowerment, its measureable indicators and overall measurement process are not yet clearly understood. As there are different definitions and interpretations depending on the context in which the concept of empowerment is being used, so there are differences in its measure-

16 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level ment (European Commission, 2012; Kabeer, 1999a; Narayan, 2002; Panzironi & Gelberhe, 2012; Rowlands, 1997). Moreover, it is argued that while empowerment in one sector may foster women’s rights, it may also create additional challenges in another area and context, usually at the same or a later time. Hence a renewed interest in the measurement of empowerment is crucial (Mahmud et al., 2012; Malhotra et al., 2002). For instance, while women’s autonomy and freedom of mobility is suggested as an indicator of women’s empowerment in a particular society (Malhotra et al., 2002), it may expose a wife to dangers without a husband’s knowledge and information to intervene (Parpart, 2010). Similarly, autonomy in a woman’s use and control of her income may lead a husband to withdraw his financial contribution to household expenses. Therefore, since empowerment is contextual, so is its measurement. As Mahmud, et al. (2012, p. 1) note, empowerment is a latent phenomenon, not directly observable and usually only partially evaluated. Moreover, the paths of change vary in context, and even the same changes within the same society do not make the same impact in different households or even in the same households at different times (Rao, 2012; Steil, 1997). According to Kabeer (1999a) and Malhotra et al. (2002), while some measurements consider the impact of specific interventions on women, others focus on the implications of women’s empowerment strategy for the desired policy objective (European Commission, 2012; Haataja et al., 2011; UNDP, 2012b, 2012c). That being the case, its measurement is usually in relation to the attainment of the other set of development goals, and women’s empowerment is seen merely as a means or a contributory factor (Narayan, 2002; UNDP, 2011c, 2012c, 2012d). In such a situation, therefore, there is a possibility that women’s empowerment measures may lack focus and instead measure strategies rather than indicators of empowerment itself (European Commission, 2012; Malhotra et al., 2002). For Malhotra et al. (2002), therefore, there is a need to go beyond increasing the number of women in strategic development sectors, as these numbers tend to give a false impression. Studies such as Areeparampil (2009), Dasarathi (2006) and Gihan (2003) and UN reports such as UNDP (2011b, 2012b, 2012d) show that increased numbers of women with higher education, engaged in income-generating activities and in positions of policy-making (e.g., parliamentary seats for women) have not necessarily eliminated gender inequality and discrimination. Likewise, granting people human rights and social justice in national policies has not equally reduced gender differences or liberated women from inequality and gender-based violence at the family level (Agarwal, 1997; Armstrong et al., 1993; Batliwala, 1993; Dasarathi, 2006;

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment 17

Gangrade & Chander, 1991). Several studies indicate that commonly used proxy variables such as education, employment and improved incomes are conceptually distant from women’s empowerment and may in some instances offer misleading conclusions (Haataja et al., 2011; Malhotra et al., 2002; Mason, 1993). Such ambiguous empowerment results are usually obtained through quantitative survey approaches based on analytical statistics with generalized and standardized procedures, irrespective of contextual differences (Blommaert & Van de Vijver, 2013; UNDP, 2011b, 2011c). Therefore, empowerment measurements have to be understood beyond intervention mechanisms as means and quantifiable indicators or figures in terms of international and national improved incomes or poverty reductions, which sometimes miss the empowerment reality in specific contexts and terms. According to Kabeer (1999a) and Malhotra et al. (2002), there have been attempts to include means or processes of empowerment through direct measures, such as decision-making, control, choice, etc. in relation to social justice at the household level where a man and woman live together.2 Such measures are considered effective representations of the empowerment process by various authors (Haataja et al., 2011; Karl, 1995; Malhotra et al., 2002). Moreover, those indicators can be verified and are considered closest to measuring agency3 in the empowerment of women (Malhotra et al., 2002, p. 19). Therefore my study measures women’s decision-making as a dependent variable of women’s empowerment, with selected verifiable indicators for use, control and ownership of family resources, almost identical to those suggested by Malhotra et al. (2002).

1.5 Decision-making defined

In this section, I will conceptualize decision-making and how it is used in my study as a determining measure of women’s empowerment. According to Kabeer (199b), just as in the case of empowerment, the definition of decision- making is not specifically clear either. Nevertheless, several authors refer to decision-making as a process that results in the selection of one or more option(s) from various alternatives and is in some cases synonymous with

2 Those indicators with “face validity” of empowerment are based on survey questions referring to very specific, concrete actions and power relationships at the family level, which are meaningful within a particular social context (Malhotra et al., 2002, p. 19). 3 According to Kabeer (1999a), agency is the capacity to define goals and the ability to implement them. Those goals that have meaning and value attached to them as a motivation to achieve them are the measurement for empowerment.

18 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level making a choice or a stand (Kabeer, 1999a, 1999b; Karl, 1995; Rowlands, 1997). However, while the availability of options from which to select and the capacity to make the right choices are a presupposition for decision-making, here they are taken for granted. Important to note is that some families are rather poor and not only women but also their husbands have no options from which to make a choice (Karl, 1995; Mamdan & Oloka, 1994; Snyder, 2000). Additionally, while making right choices is explained in terms of power relations (Kabeer, 1999b), powerlessness creates inequality, subjugation, dependency, inferiority and being controlled or decided for; hence empowerment is a measure of change in regaining lost power to act on an equal basis relative to those with power (Kabeer, 1999b; Karl, 1995). Thus, power relations and socio-economic justice in resources are central to decision- making and women’s empowerment at the household level (Karl, 1995; Malhotra et al., 2002). According to Steil (1997, p. 24), marriage is a relationship characterized by a power struggle, however muted or disguised it may be in any particular case. Therefore, in my study of married women and decision-making, power relations are fundamental to women’s empowerment, and I will thus expound more on it. While there are positive power relations, some are negative depending on the intentions of the actors (Kabeer, 1999a). On the one hand, whereas the negative “power over” others is dominating, “power with” may also be for manipulating others. In the case of “power over”, for example, the husband forcefully overrides the powerless wife in order to influence decisions on family resource use, control and ownership. Likewise, as Lukes (2005) argues, power is inherently in the interests of the powerful. In the negative case of “power with”, for example, the husband convincingly manipulates the wife by creating a false justification when he seeks consent to sell family assets to his own advantage. In both cases, power secures the compliance of the dominated, i.e., the wife, as she makes decisions unwillingly or willingly but to the advantage of the husband (Rowlands, 1997). Several studies argue that the dominating and manipulative “power over and power with” are perpetuated by beliefs of social systems and family structures where male headship is legitimate (Mushemeza, 2009; Parpart, 2010; Parson, 1963; Rao, 2012; Steil, 1997). On the other hand, in the positive forms of power relations, “power to” and “power within” offer helpful elements in decision-making (Kabeer, 1999a; Lukes, 2005; Rowlands, 1997). Whereas “power to” has productive power to shape the lives of the previously powerless, “power within” tends to add the value of self-worth or esteem or physical and psychological satisfaction, as the

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment 19 previously disempowered make decisions after their input or contributions (Steil, 1997). As Kabeer (1999a) and Lukes (2005) point out, the “power within” in decision-making may not have outwardly measureable signs but is instead embedded in self-esteem, self-actualization and self-respect (such as inner feelings of satisfaction). However, such hidden gains from women’s empowerment can be gauged ethnographically by observing body language or through interviews asking levels of happiness or feelings about their contributions to family expenses in relation to their husband’s, if this was previously not the case. Furthermore, power and gender decision-making relations at the household level revolve around resource controls, which include not only material items in an economic sense, but also human and social systems and structures, as these dictate decision-making processes. For Kabeer (1999a, p. 444), control is a measure of power in relation to the resources in question. Although the concept of control is also elusive, sometimes associated with access to or use and ownership of resources or self-reliance and being independent (Kabeer, 1999a, p. 445), the measurable terms of control in relation to women’s decision-making are associated with “taking a stand” for a choice or decision made (Kabeer, 1999b). For Kabeer (1999b) and Malhotra et al. (2002), control indicators would therefore be seen in having a final say in issues of earnings and expenditures, or choice as in choosing a spouse or being consulted or in refusing a partner chosen without consultation. For this study and in line with Kabeer (1999a), resources that enhance the ability to make choices or decisions go beyond the acquisition of economic material items, to include gaining influence over family and social systems that resist and deter or support women’s decision-making and how decisions on the use, control and ownership of resources are made in family relations. While male domination and exploitation of women is a developmental problem in all spheres of life, it poses threats to human, marital and family relations, hence the niche for this study. Whereas a lot has been done by international bodies, governments, NGOs and private sectors at international, national and local levels, little is known about how much success in empowering women at the household level has been registered. This study is conducted on Ankore families in Uganda to analyze the achievements of women’s empowerment strategies and their decision-making possibilities relative to husbands at the household level.

20 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

1.6 Problem statement and research questions

In Uganda, there is a striking disparity between the levels of enfranchisement and women’s empowerment granted by the government and other players, such as NGOs, civil society organizations (CSOs), community-based organizations (CBOs) and self-help organizations (SHOs) through a number of strategies, namely (1) increasing numbers of women in formal education, (2) increasing women’s income levels, (3) promoting women’s participation in policy and political decision-making processes and (4) promoting awareness of established intervening institutions for family protection and women’s rights and of what has actually been achieved in decision-making at the household or family level. In other words, despite, the empowerment strategies in place, gender inequalities and discrimination are still evident in women’s decision-making possibilities at the household or family level. To illustrate and manage the stated problem, my study narrows the scope to Ankore families. It analyzes married women’s decision-making power regarding family resources’ use, control and ownership capacity relative to that of their husbands, and how empowerment strategies have contributed to that power, by answering the following core research question:

How do women in Ankore families perceive their experiences with decision-making processes in the use, control and ownership of family resources?

In reference to the empowerment strategies contributing to an improvement of the position of women in decision-making process at the household level – i.e., (1) improving women’s educational attainment, (2) improving women’s income levels, (3) promoting women’s participation in policy and political decision-making processes, and (4) promoting the establishment of intervening institutions in marital and family conflicts’ resolution, I developed the following sub-questions:

1 Have women’s empowerment strategies been able to change or improve traditional “oppressive” practices and positions of women in family relations in the case of Ankore families? 2 Has the education attained by women improved their decision-making capabilities in their homes regarding the use and control of their earnings and increased their property rights over family resources relative to their husbands?

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment 21

3 Has women’s involvement in income-generating projects and increased incomes improved their decision-making capabilities in their homes regarding the use and control of their earnings and increased their property rights over family resources relative to their husbands? 4 Has women’s participation in policy and political decision-making positions improved women’s decision-making capacity in their homes regarding the use and control of their earnings and increased their property rights over family resources relative to their husbands? 5 a Have existing legal institutions been successful in intervening in gender- based violence against women? b Have existing legal institutions been successful in improving gender equality in decision-making capabilities in their homes regarding the use and control of their earnings and increased their property rights over family resources relative to their husbands?

1.7 Conclusion

This chapter presented gender inequality in a global and general perspective and provided a justification for a theoretical framework investigating women’s empowerment. It described the historical development of women’s empowerment and noted disagreements among participating states in the plan of action. It examined distinct differences and similarities in the understanding of the empowerment concept given by different research disciplines and discussed complexities in the measurement of women’s empowerment outcomes. The chapter offered a working definition of empowerment for this study and defined decision-making as a dependent variable and an expected outcome for power relations measurement of women’s empowerment at a family or household level. The background information given in this chapter provides a basis for the evaluation of thematic empowerment strategies in Uganda in Chapter 2. Research methodology is discussed in Chapter 3. The designed research questions focus on the centrality of decision-making power relations at a family or household level as a dependent measure of attained women’s empowerment in Ankore families, the findings of which are presented in Chapters 4 to 6. Chapter 7 presents a discussion and conclusion.

CHAPTER 2 Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda

2.1 Introduction

Empowerment of women has been advocated all over the world as a crucial intervention strategy for development through transforming gender inequality and discrimination against women (UN General Assembly, 1979; UNDP, 1995). Having discussed global literature on gender inequality and the concept of empowerment in Chapter 1, this chapter focuses on Uganda, specifically examining women’s empowerment strategies, namely (1) improving women’s educational attainment, (2) improving women’s income levels, (3) promoting women’s participation in policy and political decision-making processes and, (4) promoting the establishment of intervening institutions in marital and family conflicts’ resolution in contributing to an improvement of the position of women in decision-making processes at the household level. This chapter gives background information on Ankore and Uganda that is necessary and relevant to understand the historical origins and contemporary changes in family relations in Ankore families. It first offers historical and cultural perspectives specific to Ankore family practices and experiences and then discusses empowerment strategies in Uganda, which apply to Ankore women’s decision-making at the household level.

2.2 Background information on Uganda

Since Uganda was seen as a remote interior region in Africa, the British colonialists did not show much interest in the country, and in 1890 they simply declared it a British protectorate (Chamberlain, 1999; Kirunda-Kivejinja, 1995; Were & Wilson, 2000). Traditionally, while the Northern and Eastern regions of Uganda had a sedentary system of administration with each clan ruled by a 24 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level clan leader, the Central part, including Buganda and Busoga, and the Southwestern areas of Toro, Bunyoro and Ankore had kingdoms and were centrally ruled by kings. Additionally, thanks to the signing of the Buganda agreement in 1900 and the Ankore agreement in 2001, these kingdoms were recognized by Britain, and their centralized system of administration became a replica model across the country (Kirunda-Kivejinja, 1995; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011; Were & Wilson, 2000). Furthermore, the freehold right to the land that was introduced in Buganda as a political reward to individuals was alien to the traditions in the country and, more so, contradictory to the Northern and Eastern tribal arrangements where land was communally utilized by clansmen (Chamberlain, 1999; Karugire, 1980; Okuku, 2006; Were & Wilson, 2000). Several studies indicate that a unitary system of administration had profound effects on the social, economic and political lives of the people, the women and the development of the country during the colonial period between the 1870s and 1962 and thereafter (Chamberlain, 1999; Karugire, 1980; Kirunda-Kivejinja, 1995; Oberg, 1940; Okuku, 2006; Tiberondwa, 1998; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). The population of Uganda as of 2013 is estimated at 33,647,894. Table 2.1 shows Uganda’s population distribution by age and gender.

Table 2.1 Uganda population distributed by age and gender Age Distribution Male Female Percentage Under 14 8,229,045 8,280,499 49.10 15-24 3,540,080 3,581,081 21.20 25-54 4,254,335 4,259,622 25.30 55-64 365,405 411,480 2.30 Over 65 320,237 406,110 2.10 Total 16,709,102 16,938,792 100.00 Source: CIA (2013)

From Table 2.1, it is noticeable that there are slightly more females in the country than males in all age groups. Additionally, the majority of the people are below 24 years of age, and their survival largely depends on the smaller percentage of working people between 25 and 64 years. Arguably, although these estimates could be affected by excessive mortality rates due to AIDS, estimated at 6.2 percent with 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS (2009), the high population is attributed to the high total fertility rate, estimated at 5.9 (Index Mundi, 2012; UNDP, 2011b). Moreover, accordingly, contraceptive use by married women age 15-49 is still low, rated at 24 percent with a high mater-

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 25 nal mortality rate of 310 deaths per 100,000 live births (Index Mundi, 2013; UNDP, 2011b). Besides, there is still high desire for a large family, at 5.7 for men and 4.8 for women (Index Mundi, 2012). Additionally, there is a high teenage pregnancy rate of 24 percent and a male gender preference by married couples (Index Mundi, 2012). Similarly, morbidity rates are still high, estimated at 48.2 percent in 2009/2010 due to malaria and respiratory infections, with infant mortality at 54 deaths per 1,000 live births, under-five mortality at 90 deaths per 1,000 live births and a high maternal mortality rate as mentioned above (Index Mundi, 2013). Other factors considered to affect the estimated population include low life expectancy estimated at 53 years, with males at 52.4 years and females at 54.54 years (Index Mundi, 2013; The Republic of Uganda, 2012b). Uganda is a country with multiple tribes and religious groups. Although English is the official language used in schools and offices, each of the existing tribes has its own language, which in most cases is not understood by people from other regions (The Republic of Uganda, 2012b). Studies show that colonial efforts and systems to merge people with tribal cultural differences have had a lasting impact, not only at the national level, but also on gender relations at the household level where men and women live (Kasenene, 1993; Kirunda-Kivejinja, 1995; Tiberondwa, 1998). Table 2.2 presents the distribution of Uganda’s total population by tribe and religion.

Table 2.2 Uganda’s tribe and religion distribution Tribe Percentage Religion Percentage Baganda 16.90 Catholics 41.90 Banyankore 9.50 Anglicans 35.90

Basoga 8.40 Pentecostals 4.60 Bakiga 6.90 Seventh-day Adventists 1.50 Iteso 6.40 Muslims 12.10

Langi 6.10 Others 3.10

Acholi 4.70 No religion 0.90 Bagisu 4.60 Total 100.00 Lugbara 4.20

Banyoro 2.70

Others 29.60 Total 100.00 Source: CIA (2013) based on 2002 census

26 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level

Table 2.2 shows that the Banyankore, the central focus of attention in my study, after the Baganda, are the second largest tribe in the country. Since the Banyankore live in the Ankore region in Uganda, I will hereafter refer to them mainly as Ankore (see below).

2.3 Traditional Ankore family practices

Gender relations and women’s decision-making problems exist throughout Uganda and indeed all over the world, as already noted in Chapter 1. In my study the research focus is on Ankore families. This choice is not motivated by the fact that women in Ankore families experience the worst gender and family relations; rather, it is motivated by the Banyankore saying, Owateera oburaaza abwebanza (In case you are to help people, you should begin with yourself). This is to say that I am a married Munyankore4 woman born and living in Ankore. Being a married woman, advanced in age, living and working in Ankore gave me the advantage of being a connoisseur of the highly secretive topic of marital relations in Ankore families, which would have been much more complicated had I been a stranger to them. My study area covers the former Ankore Kingdom, in which there were six autonomous districts at the start of my field data collection (2006). These districts have been further sub-divided, thereby forming several other new autonomous districts. However, during my field study and data collection time between 2006 and 2009, existing districts included Bushenyi, Mbarara, Ibanda, Kiruhura, Isingiro and Ntungamo, all of which are of interest to me. I was born and brought up and I lived in the Bushenyi district for 25 years before getting married in the Isingiro district. My place of work, Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), is in the Mbarara district. Those three districts are my areas of attachment and concern, as far as women in marital and family relations are concerned. The Ntungamo, Ibanda and Kiruhura districts are part of the former Mbarara district and the former Ankore Kingdom. I include them to have a full representation of the diversity of the participants’ cultural background activities in the Ankore region and of how the empowerment of women has been perceived in such diversity. Moreover, the Ntungamo and Kiruhura districts are mainly cattle keepers (bahima), while the rest are mainly crop farmers (bairu).

4 Banyankore (plural) refers to the native people of the Ankore region, while Munyankore (singular) refers to one individual member of the tribe. Runyankore is the mother tongue of the Banyankore.

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 27

Although Ankore is known for its ethnic and social categorization of people into cattle keepers and crop farmers (Dornboos, 1978; Karugire, 1980; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011), ethnicity is not the concern of my study. Inclusion criteria of families and study participants in Ankore as a region are based on traditional livelihood activities and on how empowerment strategies might have influenced the position of women in family relations and decision- making. It is noteworthy that due to both internal and cross-border migrations and intermarriages in the Great-Lakes region, today it is not easy to identify a “typical Munyankore”, i.e., a person that ethnically traces his or her origins from Ankore. It is therefore important to note that the focus of this study is on married women in Ankore families and not necessarily on Banyankore women. Additionally, because of the practices of mixed farming adopted by many families in the region, it is also not easy currently to establish who is an agriculturalist or a pastoralist. Besides, culture is dynamic and changes are taking place continuously. In view of my research interest, i.e., an assessment of women’s empowerment and its implications on women’s decision-making possibilities in Ankore families, I sampled my participants from the families that have lived in the area of study for the last 30 years and can speak fluent Runyankore, the mother tongue of Banyankore. In reality, inevitably some families in Ankore that participated in this study trace their origins from elsewhere, including Buganda, Kigezi, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi as became clear from the questionnaire’s bio-data information and from interviews and introductions before the focus group discussions that were conducted. In reference to colonial implications, it is also important to note that the commonly used name “Ankole” (see Figure 2.1) is a linguistic misrepresentation of “Nkore” by the British colonial agents who came to the area in the nineteenth century (Kasenene, 1993; Morris, 1957, 1962). More so, the letter “l” does not exist in the Runyankore alphabet. Although the 1954 language conference set the new orthography rules to exceptionally use the letter “l” in names of places such as Kabale or Ankole, since the study has sociological and anthropological aspects, I opted to maintain the original letter (r) in the spelling of Ankore throughout the text. Besides, the area referred to as “Ankole” is also a colonial creation. According to Morris (1962) the Ankore kingdom was one of the independent states ruled quite independently by traditional rulers. The original pre-colonial kingdom of “Nkore” comprised the current district of Isingiro and a small portion of Rwampara to the northwest of Mbarara town. There were also other relatively independent chieftains in neighboring Igara, Sheema, Buhweju and Bunyaruguru, previously the Bushenyi district and

28 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level currently independent districts. According to Morris (1962) the British in 1898 forcefully merged these states into what became known as “Ankole” with “Nkore” at the center, where the Ankore agreement was drawn and signed in 1901. Through decentralization programs in Uganda, the incorporated areas have again sought their sovereignty, acquiring the status of districts, namely, Bushenyi, Mbarara, Ibanda, Kiruhura, Isingiro and Ntungam (see Figure 2.1).

Figure 2.1 Map of Uganda showing the Ankore region

Source: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/ACFA064C7C4EA2138525734400468CE5- ocha_REF_uga061031.pdf

Since traditional Ankore family practices and relations are the main points of reference for my study, I present these here before going into empowerment strategies in Uganda as a whole, which became visible in the 1980s. In dealing with pre-colonial and colonial educational, economic and socio-political

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 29 systems that influenced gender relations and conditions of women in family resources’ use, control and ownership, I opt for a historical approach. This approach offers an understanding of Ankore people’s attachment to and the resilience of traditional practices in marital and family relations. Besides, it is in line with studies that suggest that historical experiences are not just past events but are inter-connected with gender relations that were created by colonial activities and current modern social and gender inequalities (Amadiume, 1997; Grewal & Kaplan, 2009; Kasenene, 1993; Mohanty, 1991). Moreover, a discussion of traditional practices forms a comparative basis to evaluate empowerment achievements in eliminating those targeted “discriminative” and “oppressive” cultural practices in gender relations in Ankore families. Given the focus of the thesis on Ankore, chronological information about the whole of Uganda from pre-colonial and colonial history of the country is not necessary. Although being part of the people that I am writing about is an advantage, it also has its own shortfalls. For instance, when one writes about one’s own culture, there are tendencies to be criticized for idealizing the practices, especially when correcting or reporting the negatively or misrepresented information that is already in existence (Amadiume, 1995; Mikell, 1997; Oyèrónkẹ́, 1997). Being a married woman from Ankore, I may face the same challenge but I will try to discuss gender and family relations based on what I know, what I see, experiences shared by married people in the area studied and what I have read from existing literature. As a matter of fact, traditionally women in Ankore families were not equal to men and there are practices that subordinate women to men, especially in the marriage process (Benywanira, 1997; Mubangizi, 1963; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011), as will be discussed later in this chapter. However, the literature suggests evidence of relative gender egalitarianism in family decision-making, shared family activities and better observation and protection of women’s rights in the pre-colonial, traditional Ankore family systems than in any of the subsequent periods. I will first highlight some of the subordinating traditions regarding women in marriage and family relations practices.

2.3.1 Marriage practices in traditional Ankore family relations Since marriage is among the traditional practices most pertinent to my study, I will start by conceptualizing marriage in the Ankore family context. In the traditions of Ankore, marriage is between families and not only between two individuals (Mubangizi, 1963; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). However, contrary to this understanding, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (2011, p. 6)

30 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level defines marriage as “a union or a bond between a man and a woman, who become husband and wife under the law governing marriage in the country.” In Uganda, the recognized marriages include customary, religious and civil registered marriage (Beinemigisha, 2009; Bwambale, 2013; The Republic of Uganda, 1995; Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2011). However, the traditional understanding of marriage has not been reconciled with the above conventional definition, bearing in mind that in Ankore a family consists of a husband (as the head), wife or wives, children and their wives together with their children. Thus marriage remains an extension of the already existing family (Butamanya, 1992; Mubangizi, 1963; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (2011, p. 8) refers to a family as “a group of related persons, not necessarily sharing a home, although the married members of the family normally build their households close to that of their parents.” Additionally, a household is defined as “a group of persons who normally live and eat together.” In this study, household and family will be used interchangeably. Marriage in Ankore, as in many other African societies, is highly valued as the continuity of family systems, especially for procreation (Mbiti, 1986; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). Procreation, particularly of male children, is seen as the most important means for maintaining the family tree, lineage and its posterity through rightful inheritance of the family property (Kiggundu & Walusimbi, 2013; Manji, 2006; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). In Ankore families, for instance, sororate marriages (marrying a sister of a barren wife) and levirate (widow inheritance, especially if the deceased brother did not have children) are practiced to psychologically and socially address the husband’s and his family’s procreation needs (Butamanya, 1992; Mubangizi, 1963; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). There was also a practice of the sharing of wives by brothers (sometimes including the father-in law) to address childlessness issues but also to offer support to the wife in the absence of the husband (Kanyandago, 2002; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). The begotten children socially and culturally belonged to the brother, and the biological father remained their uncle and made no claim of these children. It was not an issue for public discussion, as long as the children belonged to the family members. It is worth noting that traditionally, it is considered preferable for a man to be older than his wife or wives, irrespective of age gap differences (Kanyandago, 2002; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). However, although these marriage mechanisms cater to the needs of both men and women, there are exploitative implications for women in family

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 31 systems and relations. For instance, in Ankore traditions, while it was absurd for a man to die without children, it was feared by women to die single and without children (Karwemera, 1994; Mubangizi, 1963). If it happened, elaborate cleansing rituals for the deceased and the family members had to be conducted, as the spirit of this sort of “living-dead” relative was the most feared (Karwemera, 1994; Mubangizi, 1963). Therefore, because of such mystical fears and lack of social respect for an unmarried person, especially a woman, to be married mattered more than whom one married, irrespective of procedure (Mubangizi, 1963; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). That partly explains why marriage was pre- dominantly a family concern and not a personal matter, with a collective responsibility for “matchmaking” to overcome any hindrances. Furthermore, on the death of the husband, inheritance rights to family resources were passed on to the male children and not to the wife or wives, irrespective of the woman’s contributions, in order to carry on the patriarchal family name and extension of family lineage (Mubangizi, 1963; Tukahirwa, 2002). Traditionally, stability of the home is perceived to rest more on women than on men. Mubangizi (1963) therefore argues that a woman’s life from childhood on, more than a man’s life, is fuller of “don’ts” than “dos” for such preparation. The common traditional reminder to every girl-child for every deviation is Orashwerwa hi? (With such conduct who will ever marry you?) (Mubangizi, 1963; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). Thus, throughout life right from childhood, a girl is reminded and sensitized, especially by her paternal aunts and female relatives, into appreciating the essence of getting married as the ultimate goal in life and of managing her own family. As such, by the time a girl gets married she is indoctrinated to avoid things that may ruin a marriage and family relationship (Mubangizi, 1963; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). In the long run, women are deeply entrenched in the female subordinating practices in the ordered hierarchical family system. Families in Ankore practice the giving of bride wealth, or enjugano (Mubangizi, 1963; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). In the pre-colonial period, among pastoralists enjugano ranged from one to three cows. Gradually, with increasing numbers of cattle, it increased to between 3 and 10 cows, and it has continued to increase to between 10 and 20 local cows (or a corresponding amount of money), depending on the affluence of the suitor’s family and the bargaining capacity of the bride’s parents (Najjemba, 2013; Nzita & Mbaga- Niwampa, 1997). The agriculturalists, on the other hand, gave food items and five to eight goats. However, due to changes in production activities and ownership of cattle, they too gradually started giving enjugano in the form of

32 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level cows, ranging from one to four (Mubangizi, 1963; Nzita & Mbaga-Niwampa, 1997). Currently, 5 to 10 or more local cows (or money), depending on the bargaining capacity of the bride’s family, can be given (Najjemba, 2013; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). It is noteworthy that, while in the Ankore traditions enjugano was given explicitly in terms of locally produced goods, it changed gradually with the introduction of a monetary economy by Arab traders and subsequently colonialists who introduced wage employment (Chapman, 1984a; Kirunda-Kivejinja, 1995; Najjemba, 2013). Additionally, the intention of giving enjugano was originally not to enrich the bride’s parents and relatives, as the received items were shared by the natal family members, i.e., the wife’s relatives from her family or her side, as opposed to the marital family members who are relatives from the husband’s family. They become a wife’s relatives because she is married into that family. Moreover, at the giveaway of the bride, her parents and relatives from their own resources endow her with dowry (emihingiro) of significant economic worth, beyond what they received as enjugano themselves, to take to her marital home (Kiggundu & Walusimbi, 2013; Mubangizi, 1963; Najjemba, 2013). According to Benywanira (1997) and Tumusiime and Bichachi (2011), the significance of enjugano in traditional Ankore marriage, other than an appreciation to the parents, was a formal way of giving worth to the bride and recognizing her as a legal wife of the marital family (Beinemigisha, 2009; Mubangizi, 1963). Moreover, giving and accepting enjugano prompted reconciliation of previously broken relationships. For example, in the case of existing or previous conflicts among members of the two families intending to unite in marriage, a ritual was performed to amend the broken relationship before accepting the given enjugano (Karwemera, 1994). Since no marriage would be recognized without giving enjugano, women were considered agents of reconciliation in family relations. Besides, any misfortune encountered in marriage, especially barrenness, was highly associated with violations in giving enjugano (Karwemera, 1994; Mubangizi, 1963). Despite strong criticisms against it, the bridegroom’s family would rather part with everything required to satisfy this obligation, as it controls a sensitive part of family life, i.e., procreation. Therefore, although there is an economic value attached to enjugano, traditionally it is seen more as a matter of social relationship, political security, legal status and moral and spiritual appeasement to and blessings from the parents, relatives and ancestors of the prospective couple (Kiggundu & Walusimbi, 2013; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010).

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 33

However, the current challenges related to the practice of giving and receiving enjugano are noteworthy. To begin with, the increased cost of enjugano quite often has discouraged potential suitors from following the socially approved traditional marriage procedures (Benywanira, 1997; Butamanya, 1992; Okiror, 2009; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). As a result, some marriageable young people resort to elopement and cohabiting to induce the bride’s kin to lower the enjugano, although this has sometimes caused its doubling as a punishment to deter others from violating the norm (Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). Traditionally, in Ankore men are potentially polygamous. It is important to note that while a man is free to have subsequent marriage(s), in order for a woman to be free for another marriage, the enjugano of the failed one has to be returned (Mubangizi, 1963; Okwii, 2013; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). Yet, in most cases, should there be a divorce, the enjugano items cannot be retrieved from the relatives that shared them and the biological parents cannot raise it for the refund (Mubangizi, 1963, Najjemba, 2013; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). The implication of such practice, therefore, is that marriage is a life commitment for married women and hence, they have to bear with every situation to remain in the marital home (Namutebi & Warubiri, 2013; L. Ndagire, 2013; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). In addition, the sharing of enjugano sometimes makes the relatives unsatisfied with what they received compared to the total amount given to the father of the bride, which creates grudges and conflicts among the family members (Butamanya, 1992; Mubangizi, 1963; Najjemba, 2013). Therefore, when the enjugano is used in the sense of economic exploitation, it has financial constraints and may cause tension and hatred between the bride’s and the bridegroom’s sides, which may eventually result in marital and family conflicts that affect the woman more than anybody else (Benywanira, 1997; Najjemba, 2013). Such commercialized traditional practice has continued to disadvantage women in Ankore marital and family relations. To bring out the changed status of the women of the traditional Ankore, in the following sections I will discuss gender relations in pre-colonial and colonial family relations in the field of (1) education, (2) production and household economy (incomes), (3) political authority and decision-making and (4) conflict resolution mechanisms. This discussion gives some background about the traditional position of women in Ankore families and changes that happened thereafter along with incongruity or challenges in empowerment approaches as implemented in Uganda.

34 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level

2.3.2 Education systems and gender relations in pre-colonial and colonial times Traditionally, before the introduction of Western formal education in 1877, all children, irrespective of gender and age, had equal opportunities and entitlement to indigenous education (Ssekamwa, 2000; Tiberondwa, 1998). All parents and elders in the society had a role to play in guiding the young ones, but especially mothers as lead tutors (Ssekamwa, 2000; Tiberondwa, 1998). As there was no universal education syllabus, based on the family’s occupation, each family taught its children its profession (Karwemera, 1994; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). Although participation in different tasks of the profession was normally according to gender, age and experience, boys could learn to do female-associated activities, such as cooking, grinding and preparing millet bread and other domestic chores, especially if there were few or no girls in the family (Chapman, 1984a; Karwemera, 1994; Nzita & Mbaga-Niwampa, 1997; Ssekamwa, 2000; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). Likewise, in the absence of sons, girls could do male-associated activities, including grazing family livestock, brewing beer and preparing the fields for cultivation (Chapman, 1984a; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). The introduction and development of Western (formal) education in Uganda is attributed to the Church Missionary Society (1877), and the British and French White Fathers Society (1879), who taught natives reading, writing, numeracy or counting, Christianity, agriculture and some technical skills (Kwesiga, 2002; Ssekamwa, 2000; Tiberondwa, 1998). The Muslim Arabs who had arrived in 1844 as traders had also taught trading activities, Islamic faith and reading the holy Qur’an (Ssekamwa, 2000). The Western formal learning, however, took a gender discriminatory approach and was conducted out of homes for longer hours of the day (Kwesiga, 2002; Ssekamwa, 2000). That approach came to have a profound effect on the status of women in family relations. In Table 2.3, I present differences in indigenous and Western formal education regarding gender perspectives and systems of operation.

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 35

Table 2.3 Education pattern in Uganda since the introduction of formal education (1877) Characteristics Indigenous education Western education Teachers and Parents, esp. mothers, Exclusively European male their gender elders in society and fellow missionaries and later female children missionaries. Gradually indigenous trained male teachers and finally female teachers. Taught content Practical skills, culture, Reading, writing, prayers, numeracy, philosophy, societal values, geography, religion, science, games, ethics, morals, agriculture, singing, some technical memorization, etc. skills. Eventually it became a requirement and source of survival/employment. Venue and time Everywhere (mostly at In schools, churches and mosques at home) and all the time regulated hours 8 am to 5 pm, 5 days a week. Methods Practically, apprentices, Talking and listening, drilling and using all their senses imitating. Learners/ Everybody, irrespective of Highly gender-discriminative and Students gender and age targeting sons of chiefs and other influential natives. Gradually, male children joined the system and around the 1930s some girls went to schools. Aims To offer skills related to To assist in colonial rule and activities needs of society, morals (to eventually rule the country). (obuntu) and formation of an integral person Source: Designed by the author from Kwesiga, 2002; Ssekamwa, 2000; Tiberondwa, 1998

Table 2.3 shows traditional families and specifically females being deprived not only of tutoring roles but also of having formal education. It also indicates newly created domains of operation with men in public activities and women in homes for domestic work. Additionally, it indicates more work for women than previously, thus overworking for the household’s livelihoods. Moreover, the discriminative and divisive Western formal education system branded those who were left out as illiterate, uneducated and ignorant, the majority of whom were women. Therefore, women were later on to find life more challenging compared to men who obtained new values, knowledge, skills and compe- tencies. Indeed, as Ssekamwa (2000) and Kwesiga (2002) put it, a considerable number of paid jobs began to appear from the colonial period onwards both in government departments, in missionary establishments and in companies that

36 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level required schooled and literate people. Still now, a person who does not have formal education is in a precarious position in all aspects of life. As Jan and Akhtar (2008) explain, decision-making processes are influenced by the knowledge that a person has. Since women were eliminated from Western formal education, they found themselves disadvantaged, not only in the employment sector, but also because they lived a life dependent on their husbands’ decisions, which was formerly not the case in family relations (Kyomuhendo & McIntosh, 2006; Nambarirwa, 2010).

2.3.3 Production, resources and power relations in pre-colonial and colonial times Because the politics in the family economy influence power relations (Steil, 1997), I will discuss resources, production, control and decision-making together. Before colonial times (1877), most work in Ankore society was directed towards satisfying basic needs, and its success depended on the collective responsibilities of all family members, irrespective of age and gender (Butamanya, 1992; Chapman, 1984a; Karwemera, 1994; Kyomuhendo & McIntosh, 2006). According to Tumusiime and Bichachi (2011), the main food crops grown in Ankore agricultural families include millet, bananas, potatoes, cassava, beans, groundnuts, peas, soya beans and a variety of vegetables. For pastoralist families, dairy farming was their livelihood, producing products that they exchanged with agriculturalist families (Dornboos, 1978; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). Although food preparation was primarily the work of women, there were shared responsibilities. For instance, among the agriculturalists, men participated in the heavy production activities, particularly clearing thickets in virgin lands; carried home firewood and water (especially in areas where water was obtained from distant places); and tended to the plantations. Among the pastoralists, men looked after animals the whole day while women and girls grazed the calves and livestock left behind, particularly in the dry season (Museveni, 2008; Nzita & Mbaga-Niwampa, 1997; Oberg, 1940). Likewise, the domestic household chores did not constitute a busy schedule for women as we see today (Kyomuhendo & McIntosh, 2006). There was no preparation of hot breakfast, and at a later hour in the day, family members ate what was reserved from supper and continued with their chores. At first Ankore homesteads and huts, fully built of grass and later on formed of mud and wattle, were put up by men. Women were only required to spread the floor with grass to sit on as well as to sleep on in the night (Mubangizi, 1963; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). Compounds were swept in the evenings by children, boys and girls together.

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 37

Additionally, families made baskets and wooden or clay plates for serving food and clay cooking pots that did not require daily washing (Karwemera, 1994, Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). Some of these utensils are still in use in Ankore families because of their advantages over metallic utensils.5 Each adult had one or two hides or skins to wear, and these did not require any washing other than snuffing them regularly as and when deemed necessary (Benywanira, 1997; Karwemera, 1994; Mubangizi, 1963). Such a lifestyle left women with a lot of time to themselves to utilize as they wished, normally doing handicrafts for family use and barter trade, a system which they also controlled (Butamanya, 1992; Kyomuhendo & McIntosh, 2006). In Ankore traditions, people practiced the exchange of gifts in terms of family resources, especially cows or goats, locally known as empaano, as a form of strengthening friendship or family relations, but also as a form of investment because it was reciprocal (Karwemera, 1994; Mubangizi, 1963; Nzita & Mbaga-Niwampa, 1997). The giving and receiving family members viewed such gifts as debts to be returned in the course of time, and as such, a husband could not simply give such gifts to friends without consultations with and consent from his wife. Although wives were not the decision-makers in homes, they were normally consulted for consent. A wife could, at times, refuse to part with a specific gift, and besides, such relationships flourished on the hospitality and goodwill of the wives. Thus, a husband could not underrate the power and authenticity of a wife in family decision-making. Because land is an important production resource in a subsistence economy, I give special attention to its use, control and ownership, for it has implications for power and gender relations in the family. On the issues of resource use and ownership, critics of African culture tend to confuse the notions of “land ownership” with “land use”, which was practiced in pre-colonial African societies (Colin & Woodhouse, 2010; Kajoba, 2008; Okuku, 2006; Tukahirwa, 2002). Land use has undergone an evolutionary transformation from wan- dering, food hunting and gathering to sedentary subsistence and later to commercial farming systems (Chapman, 1984a; Kajoba, 2008; Nsibambi, 1996; Olanya, 2012; The Republic of Uganda, 1975, 1998; Tukahirwa, 2002;). Land use refers to usage under which any given piece of land may be put to use for a given period of time under prevailing environmental and technological conditions (Kajoba, 2008; Nsibambi, 1996; Okuku, 2006; Tukahirwa, 2002). In reference to the above understanding, in the pre-colonial period, land in Ankore was generally accessed and used but not owned. For Museveni (2008) the idea of land ownership was incongruous and could not be understood by

5 Seen in homes during field visits and reported by study participants that were interviewed.

38 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level people in Ankore in the pre-colonial period. That was the case mainly in societies where an individual, male or female, obtained land rights by residence or settlement. The reason for such practice is that at that time, land was plenty and the populations were still sparse (Karugire, 1980; Morris, 1962; Nzita & Mbaga-Niwampa, 1997; Oberg, 1940; Olanya, 2012; Tukahirwa, 2002). A generally similar experience in African communities is that individual families within a given village usually acquired land by clearing bushes, by land transfer or inheritance or through a feudal system (Conroy, 1945; Kajoba, 2008; Manji, 2006; Okuku, 2006). In other words, as long as individuals were politically and socially acceptable in the community or village, irrespective of gender, they acquired a portion of land in the neighborhoods of others, after consulting the village headman, who in turn had constant contacts with the village chief (Kajoba, 2008; Nsibambi, 1996; Tukahirwa, 2002). On issues of gender, there are studies that confirm that no one, neither men nor women, owned land privately in pre-colonial Africa (Colin & Woodhouse, 2010; Kirunda-Kivejinja, 1995; Manji, 2006; Okuku, 2006; Olanya, 2012; Yudelman, 1964). Moreover, in the pre-colonial period under the system of communal land tenure and household production, society was egalitarian, with women handling the management of food crops and control of produce for their household, especially in polygamous families as mother-centered households (Chapman, 1984b; Colin & Woodhouse, 2010; Manji, 2006). Once a family had acquired a piece of land, the community protected their rights to its use as long as they continued to use it. When not in use, land reverted to the community for another person’s use (Kajoba, 2008; Nsibambi, 1996; Tukahirwa, 2002). Therefore, all a person needed and could possess was the right to use land, i.e., usufruct right and its access, but not its ownership. To be clearer on the point of land, Museveni (2008), in his speech while launching a national land policy, explained that:

Land was, generally, used communally in many communities in Uganda, although there were temporary private land rights. In Ankore, for instance, there were, since time immemorial, two very clear concepts: eshambu, an area where families grew season’s crops in addition to banana plantation, and ekyanya, the area of about 200-400 meters around a cattle kraal where other people’s herds were excluded from; as this was for calves and sick cattle that could not go for communal grazing grounds […]. Otherwise, in most instances, there was a background of nomadism. After some time, either because of epidemics that claimed people’s lives or livestock, a family would shift to a completely new area and abandon the

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 39

old site […]. If a new people came there, they would occupy it as rightful owners and the first occupants’ rights would have been transferred to the new site – the new home, in that case ending the private land rights of eshambu or ekyanya. In the case of Ankore-Mpororo [including Rukungiri and parts of Kabale], the land belonged to the king-omugabe [the state]. People simply had the right of use.

Additionally, it is worth noting that families in Ankore follow a patrilineal system, where upon marriage a woman is required to move from her own family to join her husband in his family (Butamanya, 1992; Mubangizi, 1963). With such practice a married women’s access to land is through her husband and his family. With traditional Ankore families being polygamous, each homestead was mother-centered in production, and therefore, land use expansion capacity was through a woman’s efforts to clear more virgin areas. In such a case, therefore, although men headed families, the size of the land attached to the family largely depended on the wives. The less the wife worked, the smaller the land portion she brought under her homestead’s use, and the reverse was also true. Moreover, product control, including barter trade decisions, was all left in the hands of women. For instance, among the Bairu families, women had the autonomy to decide which part of the land to cultivate and which to leave under fallow. Women made plans for household harvests, such as to reserve certain types of seeds for the following planting season and what was for home consumption or for barter trade. Similarly, it was bahima women who churned milk, served it to family members and also exchanged ghee or milk for food items with bairu families (Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). Therefore and accordingly, it was a shame and a dishonor to find a husband rationing and interfering in food control in a home (Butamanya, 1992; Mubangizi, 1963). Handicraft works, pottery and innovative jewelry were additional means for family economy mostly done by women, both at the household and society levels. Although there was no long-distance trade in Ankore, women barter- traded the products of their activities at household levels and utilized the proceeds for family requirements. Therefore, before the colonial period, women exercised autonomous economic power in their homes and made substantive decisions on proceeds from their activities. Additionally, they were never dependent on the husband as the breadwinner for the family’s survival (Kyomuhendo & McIntosh, 2006; Nzita & Mbaga-Niwampa, 1997). For the sake of their families’ survival and well-being, wives and husbands worked hand in hand as co-workers (Chapman, 1984a).

40 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level

Women, however, found themselves in precarious positions when land became a commodity purchased and privately owned by men (Colin & Woodhouse, 2010; Kirunda-Kivejinja, 1995; Manji, 2006; Okuku, 2006; Olanya, 2012; The Republic of Uganda, 1975, 1998, 2011). Accordingly, it is noted that the introduction of cash crops resulted in the diffusion of modern, sedentary and commercial land use practices for a cash market economy (Kajoba, 2008; Manji, 2006; Zziwa & Sebina, 1995). Several authors emphasize that with land privately purchased, owned and sold by men or utilized for men’s cash crops, women’s autonomy to access and control land use was undermined together with the economic power that women had enjoyed through food crop production (Kirunda-Kivejinja, 1995; Okuku, 2006; Olanya, 2012; Tukahirwa, 2002; Zziwa & Sebina, 1995;). Moreover, with the introduction of a new land tenure system, the mailo6 system, with freehold, lease hold and crown land as forms of rewards for colonial supporters, customary land tenure was greatly undermined, with women thrown out of the land use system (IS Academic, 2012; Okuku, 2006; Olanya, 2012; Tukahirwa, 2002; West, 1965). According to Obbo (1991), with land becoming a stronghold for men, the resources that had marked the power of women in pre-colonial times as controllers of food products, i.e., their autonomy in the use and exchange of those products, was restrained. Similarly, in monetary profit-oriented production, the pattern of sharing family duties and responsibilities between men and women changed, with the former shouldering a minimal work load. Men began to control women and their labor as they controlled household produce and cash proceeds. As such, women became stratified below men as domestic servants (Carney, 1988; Colin & Woodhouse, 2010; Kajoba, 2008; Obbo, 1991; Okuku, 2006). Such strenuous family relations have persisted (Kajoba, 2008; Muhumuza, 2002; Tamale, 2000, 2003b; Tripp et al., 2009), even with women’s movements, changes in land management policies and the gender- inclusive constitution (The Republic of Uganda, 1975, 1998, 2000). These steps or strategies were intended to revitalize the lost position of women in property rights within family relations. For instance, the current draft of the national land policy (The Republic of Uganda, 2011) suggests changes in Article 237a of the constitution of Uganda (The Republic of Uganda, 1995), which states that all land belongs to the citizens of Uganda, thus granting land entitlement back to citizens, men and women alike, but not to the state. How- ever, according to the Ministry of Housing, Land and Urban Development,

6 The basic unit of the mailo system is a square mile, hence the derivation of mailo, which is also equivalent to 640 acres (see http://www.wdl.org/en/item/7768/).

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 41 although the new policy still vests titles of land to its citizens (men and women), the state now has sovereignty over all land in the country in trust for its citizens (The Republic of Uganda, 2011).

2.3.4 Mechanisms of family conflict resolution in pre-colonial and colonial times Bearing in mind that people living together have divergent views, interests and ideas that may result in clashes and conflicts, traditional African societies and families planned mechanisms and institutions of peace building and conflict resolution. These mechanisms include mediation through family members, councils or advisors, such as village heads, elders (men and women) or community members selected on the basis of their integrity in negotiations of peace and reconciliation. The wisdom and decisions of elders would be respected and taken seriously (Museveni, 1997; Mutisi, 2011). Although the mechanisms here are referred to as “traditional7,” they are not out of use, and some of them are still evidently applied in current times, though in different forms but serving the same purpose (Mpangala, 2004). The traditional systems have different names in different parts of Africa, including Dare in Zimbabwe among the Shona people, Abunzi or Gacaca in Rwanda, Bashingantahe in Burundi, Magambo in Mozambique, Inkundla in South Africa and Bany Bith and Kuar among the Dinka and Nuer in Sudan, whose powers had no political executive authority (Mpangala, 2004; Mutisi, 2011; Ogora, 2009; Wassara, 2007). Additionally, their offices were traditionally considered spiritual and sacred, offering security and protection, as whoever sought refuge from them would be protected from the wrath of the offended party (Wassara, 2007). Similarly in Uganda, different tribes also have different names for similar practices, such as Mato Oput in Acholi, Kay Cuk in Lango, Ailuc in Iteso, Ajupe in Kakwa, Ajufe in Lugbara, Aja in Alur, Tolukoka in Madi, Ameto in

7 The term “traditional” is often understood negatively to mean primitive and ancient or outdated ways of doing things (Hornby, 2010, p. 1796). In this research, the term “traditional” refers to the culturally long-established system of practices, customs and values among a particular society. Those practices identify and differentiate a society or a particular group of people from others (Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2011, p. 10). Moreover, these practices are not static but evolve with time as societies deem it necessary. Externally, the traditional practices may be misunderstood or misinterpreted as being oppressive and archaic when they are still valued and meaningful to the indigenous community. Such lack of understanding and respect of embedded value may cause conflict between indigenous members who still value them and those who wish to discard them.

42 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level

Karamoja and Iteso, Ekika in Buganda and Isaazi in Toro (Chapman & Kagaha, 2009; Ogora, 2009, Sentongo & Bartoli, 2012). In Ankore, at the societal level, there was an established hierarchy of justice and law with Bagyendanwa, the mystical power of the royal drum, on top of appeals (Kasenene, 1993; Morris, 1962; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). Otherwise, parents or family heads, neighbors and elders in the community would assemble into a ruling body, termed as Ishaazi, as and when the need arose, to guide the conflicting parties (Mubangizi, 1963; Museveni, 1997; Turyomumazima, 2005). Apparently, the operations and success of traditional conflict resolution in family relations thrived on the reverence of traditional values and virtues of humaneness (obuntu or ubuntu), that is, the humanistic African philosophy of keeping allegiances and relationships with each other (Gade, 2012; Murithi, 2006; Nkondo, 2007). Moreover, obuntu encompassed speaking the truth publically and both the offender and the offended offering forgiveness, as the essence of reconciliation (Turyomumazima, 2005; Yvonne, 2012). However, in times of marital and family conflict resolution, women are expected more than men to compromise their views or interests for the sake of family relations and are even advised by fellow women to do so (Butamanya, 1992; Mubangizi, 1963; Parpart, 2010). Table 2.4 gives a comparative analysis of traditional indigenous and Western, i.e., British, rule of law approaches in solving conflicts in Ankore families. The characteristics used are intended to show differences, similarities, strengths and weaknesses that influence people’s perceptions of fairness or justice in the mechanisms used, which in turn influence the extent to which married people apply them in marital and family conflict resolution in Ankore families.

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 43

Table 2.4 Traditional and Western approaches to family and marital conflict resolution Characteristics Traditional approach Western approach Mediators − Family members form a council − Trained professionals and their (eishaazi) − Lawyers qualifications − Clan leaders − Police − Community-respected elders − Judges, magistrates and neighbors of both genders − Local councils − Diviners, healers and herbalists − Religious leaders − No formal training − Use of experience Venue and − Sit in a house or compound of − Sit at established courts of law attire rivaling couples − Room reserved for arbitration − Parents of the husband or wife − Official court attire or vestments − Casual attire Procedures − Informal hearing from − Conflicting people have their conflicting partners who sit own place in the courtroom among mediating relatives or − Recorded rules and policies community members required as references to solve − No record keeping current cases − Feedback/resolution given there − Records or writings are made and then − Feedback given later after − Use of local, familiar and studying written notes understood language − Several journeys to the courts − No interpreter usually required − Personal presentation and − Use of English and interpreter, ownership of cases though sometimes local language is used − Cases argued by lawyers − High court fee always required and transport costs high − The verdict takes longer Penalties − Affordable items for sharing − Depends on the magnitude of − Goats/ sheep the problem and decision of the − Meal sharing court − Drinks − Money − No court fee − Imprisonment − Beating and manual work Source: Designed by the author based on FIDA Uganda (2003), Karwemera (1994), Kasenene (1993), Mubangizi (1963), Turyomumazima (2005) and Uganda Law Reform Commission (2010)

Table 2.4 reveals that peace building and conflict resolution, previously exclusively a family member function, is currently treated as a public matter involving trained personnel, in a different framework and with a different procedure. The table also indicates that both traditional and Western ap-

44 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level proaches are in use. With this background of the changes in practices and gender relations in Ankore families in mind, I will now turn to women’s empowerment strategies in Uganda that attempt to improve the status of women relative to men.

2.4 Women’s empowerment in Uganda since 1986

This section focuses on women’s empowerment strategies and the registered achievements from these strategies, namely (1) improving women’s educational attainment, (2) improving women’s income levels, (3) promoting women’s participation in policy and political decision-making processes and (4) promoting the establishment of intervening institutions in marital and family conflicts’ resolution. In the following sections, the registered achievements are evaluated in relation to women’s capacity in decision-making relative to their husbands’ at the household level.

2.4.1 Women’s empowerment in education Education is a major determining factor in women’s enlightenment, empowerment and development (Jan & Akhtar, 2008; Kagoda, 2011; Mahmud et al., 2012; UNDP, 2012c). Women’s education offers opportunities for knowledge, awareness and employment; it is thus an agent of basic change in the status of women and of those whose well-being they care for (Areeparampil, 2009; Kwesiga 2002; Lakwo, 2007; UNDP, 2012b, 2012c). Moreover, it opens options in life from which to choose, as it widens women’s horizon of exposure, levels of thinking and employment opportunities in the formal sector for stable incomes and hence enables a reduction of their dependence on others (Areeparampil, 2009; Iversen, Jackson, Kebede, Munro & Verschoor, 2011; Jan & Akhtar, 2008; Kabeer, 1999b; Lakwo, 2007). Furthermore, education creates awareness about human rights, justice, gender equality and discrimination and power relations, and hence it is seen as a means of social change (Areeparampil, 2009; Nambarirwa, 2010; UNDP, 2011c, 2012c). Although formal education in Uganda started in 1877, a lack of records indicating males’ attendance and the exact years in which women started formal education, and consequently gender ratios over the course of time, make it a difficult sector to investigate. However, since formal education discriminated against women from the start, the numbers of female students remained insignificant and low through colonial times to Uganda’s independence in 1962 (Ssekamwa, 2000; Tiberondwa, 1998). Additionally, Kagoda (2011) notes that

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 45 before independence, there were very few females who were educated and had received an education beyond primary level. Indeed, according to Kasente (2001), Makerere University admitted the first six females in 1945, after a long struggle, and these females were offered a separate curriculum consisting of English, Social Studies, Art and Education studies (Kwesiga, 2002). It is worth noting that of these six females, Ntiro Evangeline Sarah was the first woman university graduate in East and Central Africa in 1955 (ACFODE, 1999; Kasente, 2001; Kwesiga, 2002). To boost women’s education and bring about parity in the education sector, Uganda introduced a gender in education policy in 1987. This resulted in the Government White Paper of 1991, which made reforms to guide 25 years of strategic planning (Kagoda, 2011; Nambarirwa, 2010; Ssekamwa, 2000). Some of the reforms designed include universal primary education (UPE) in 1997, expansion of tertiary institutions (private and government), introduction of evening and weekend programs, distance learning and, above all, the affirmative action of 1.5 points8 to increase the admission of women into higher learning institutions (Kagoda, 2011; Ministry of Education and Sports, 2009; UNDP, 2012c). Table 2.5 shows enrollment trends since the introduction of UPE.

Table 2.5 Enrollment and completion percentages in primary education Year 1991 1996 1997 2003 N % N % N % N % Enrollment NA 54 3.1 million NA 5.3 million 73 7.3 million 78 Completion NA NA NA NA NA NA 2,159,850 NA Source: Atekyereza, 2001; Bategeka & Okurut, 2006; Ministry of Education and Sports, 2009; NA = figures not given

Table 2.5 shows that the implementation of reforms made a remarkable increase in enrollment from 54 percent in 1991 to 73 percent in 1997 and 78 percent in 2003. By 2003, the total enrollment of pupils in primary schools was 7.3 million, having been 3.1 million in 1996 (a year before UPE) and 5.3

8 The scheme of adding 1.5 points came in response to pressure from the women’s movement, the Ministry of Gender and the Department of Women and Gender Studies of Makerere University to bridge or narrow the gender imbalance in admission at the tertiary level. The scheme considers all girls that complete Advanced level with a minimum required qualifica- tion for university entrance. The female students are then given a 1.5 point top-up or bonus over the points they obtained through examination results. The top-up points added to the actual obtained results increases chances of being admitted at the tertiary institutions.

46 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level million in 1997 (Bategeka & Okurut, 2006). However, urban schools registered a higher percent of enrollment at school-going age (78 percent) than schools in rural areas (69 percent). Moreover the total enrollment of girls (67 percent) remained lower than that of boys (73 percent) countrywide. From January 1997 to 2007, Uganda had gender parity with respect to primary education, with enrollment of 49.9 percent for girls and 50.1 percent for boys (Kagoda, 2011; Ministry of Education and Sports, 2009). However, even as enrollment continues to increase, there is still a sig- nifycant registered dropout rate. Table 2.5 shows that out of 5.3 million that enrolled in 1997, only 2,159,850 million completed the primary cycle in 2003. The reasons for a high dropout rate at the primary level are given in Table 2.6.

Table 2.6 Reasons for pupils’ dropout at the primary level Reasons for dropout Percentage Lack of interest 46 Family responsibilities 15 Sickness 12 UPE is not entirely free (parents are charged for pens, books, clothings, 27 packed lunch, building materials), and UPE is not compulsory Total 100 Source: Bategeka & Okurut, 2006; Nambarirwa, 2010

As a result of the given reasons, dropout for girls has remained high, with only 34 percent completing primary grade seven, 9 percent reaching secondary levels and only 4.4 percent completing tertiary education (Bategeka & Okurut, 2006; Nambarirwa, 2010). At the secondary level, boys’ enrollment is still higher than that of girls, with 83 girls enrolling for every 100 boys (Kagoda, 2011; Ministry of Education and Sports, 2009). According to The Republic of Uganda (2012a), the 2009/2010 report shows a general increase of 0.9 percent enrollment in primary school, although the majority of students enrolled in secondary and higher institutions were males. Furthermore, according to UNDP (2011b), Uganda’s education attainment survey at the household level reflects that 0.8 percent of females aged 65 and above had attained education above the secondary level, compared to 4.5 percent of their male counterparts in 2009/2010. These figures have continued to improve, although the gap is still large. For instance, according to UNDP (2011b), the Gender Inequality Index indicates that of the total population of Uganda, 9.1 percent of females, compared to 20.8 percent of males age 25 and above, had at least secondary level education by

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 47

2010, with employment attained by 78.3 percent of females compared to 90.6 percent of males (UNDP, 2011b). Similarly, 71.3 percent of females with no secondary education compared to 37.3 percent of males is still very high (The Republic of Uganda, 2012a). Although the number of women in formal education has been increasing over time, particularly at Makerere University since 1986, the legacy of under- representation has persisted, with the enrollment of students skewed in favor of male students (Kagoda, 2011; Kasente, 2001). For instance, according to The Republic of Uganda (2012a), the tertiary education enrollment female to male ratio is registered at 0:62, with a Gender Inequality Index (GII) of 0.557. Uganda is thus ranked in 116th place in the GII, with 146 participating countries. According to Kagoda (2011), in 2011 Uganda had 29 universities, compared to 1980 when Makerere was the only university in the country. Strategies to increase women’s education in the country have improved gender parity in enrollment. For instance, of the 174,375 students enrolled in higher learning institutions in 2010, 44 percent were females, compared to only 37 percent of 54,444 students that were enrolled in 2000 (Kagoda, 2011). Moreover, as a national policy in Uganda since 1990, the affirmative action of +1.5 points has facilitated the increase of women’s enrollment in higher education institutions. For instance, women’s enrollment at Makerere University increased from 24 percent in 1989 to 30 percent in 1990 and to 34 percent in 1995 (Kasente, 2001; Kwesiga, 2002). At Mbarara University of Science and Technology, the female: male students’ enrollment ratio was 45:55 in 2008, compared to 35:65 in 2000 (Academic Registrar’s Office, 2008). Furthermore, increasing awareness on gender issues led to the establishment of women’s studies in institutions of higher learning, such as the creation of the Department of Gender Studies at Makerere University in 1991 (Mugyenyi & Kwesiga, 1995; Kasente, 2001; Kwesiga, 2002). In some institutions, such as Uganda Martyrs University in 1993 and Mbarara University of Science and Technology in 2000, gender studies was incorporated as a course unit (Nduhukhire, 2004). Mbarara University of Science and Technology in 2013 formed an autonomous Gender Studies department. Such innovations help sensitize students and the general public on the value of gender issues in development. Moreover, gender studies came into existence as a result of a general realization that addressing women’s issues only tends to alienate men and create resistance to women’s empowerment (Atekyereza, 2001; Kagoda, 2011; Kasente, 2001). However, the rise in enrollment of women in higher education does not necessarily ensure justice and equality of men and women. Whereas education

48 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level attainment has improved the social lives of women in terms of employment opportunities, increased incomes, contributions to household well-being, health awareness and reduced maternal mortality (Index Mundi, 2013; Kagoda, 2011; Kwesiga, 2002; Kyomuhendo & McIntosh, 2006; The Republic of Uganda, 2012a; UNDP, 2011b), gender relations at the household level have not necessarily improved, as indicated by escalating rates of domestic violence (Okwii, 2013; The Republic of Uganda, 2012a; Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2006, 2012; Wikigender, 2008). As Iversen et al. (2011) and Lakwo (2007) noted, while contributions of women to family resources and well-being are welcome, usually their claims on ownership and sharing family property, more so in cases of separation or divorce, are not. For that reason, Kyomuhendo and McIntosh (2006) and Lakwo (2007) expressed that without guaranteed ownership rights to family property to which they have contributed and without decision rights on resource use, women’s empowerment remains obscured, whether they are highly educated or not, especially amidst the increasing rates of domestic violence (Mahmud et al., 2012; Malhotra et al., 2002; L. Ndagire, 2013; Okwii, 2013; Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2012; UNDP, 2011b, 2012a, 2012d; Wikigender, 2008).

2.4.2 Women’s empowerment in economy The Government of Uganda embraced international women’s empowerment programs and was among the first countries to sign terms and references of CEDAW on 30 July, 1980, the signing having been opened on 1 March, 1980 (United Nations Treaty Collection, 2013). Women’s empowerment in Uganda, especially after 1986, was implemented with a fourfold mission: (1) to protect women’s violated rights, (2) to follow as a member state CEDAW requirements and obligations, (3) to enable women to contribute to the family and national incomes, and (4) to reward women’s efforts in the liberation war (Goetz, 2003; Muhumuza, 2002; Museveni, 1997; Tamale, 2003a; Tripp, 2001; Tripp & Kwesiga, 2002). Except for the first one of protecting women’s violated rights, all the other three objectives have, more or less, been achieved (Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2006, 2012). Using the government financial statistics (The Republic of Uganda, 2012b) in nominal terms, government revenue collections rose by 40.7 percent from 5,182.6 billion Uganda Shillings (UShs) in financial year 2009/2010 to 7,292.5 billion UShs in financial year 2010/2011. Similarly, the banking and currency sector registered an increment of 50 percent between June 2010 and June 2011, and the total commercial bank assets increased by 23.3 percent between June

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 49

2010 and June 2011 (The Republic of Uganda, 2012b; Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2012). Uganda is a low-income country by World Bank standards, with a low Human Development Index (HDI) of 161/169, and it was ranked at position 161 in a list of 187 countries for which data are available, having a score of 0.446 (UNDP, 2011b). Additionally, although Uganda has a high women’s economic opportunity index of 97/113, at the same time it has a low female/ male income ratio of 0:69 (The Republic of Uganda, 2012a; Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2012; Wikigender, 2008). Furthermore, according to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (2012), female employees accounted for 44.3 percent of the total 458.106 employment business establishments in 2010/2011. With women’s contributions, a 75 percent nominal increase in per capita consumption expenditure from 41,300 UShs to 72,000 UShs was recorded in 2009/2010 (Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2012). However, although per capita consumption expenditure rose, income inequality gaps between females and males have remained high (as shown above) (Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2012; Wikigender, 2008). Similarly, although nearly 20 percent of 7.5 million people who were poor in 2005/2006 came out of poverty in 2009/2010, nearly half of them remained poor, the majority being women (The Republic of Uganda, 2012a; Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2012). Talking from an insider’s viewpoint, it is also important to note that statistical poverty levels and per capita incomes in national measurement terms are elusive and may not reflect the reality on the ground. For instance, statistical calculations do not include “hidden wealth” in material property accruing from family activities, such as livestock farming and crop growing or banana plantations and their sales, which is usually not reflected anywhere in government records, as it is always directly spent on basics, such as education, health and social costs. Moreover, the majority of the families in rural regions do not have bank accounts in which to keep their money where it would be known and included in the national calculations. Indeed, normally the given statistics are estimates (Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2011). Furthermore, the use of US dollars as a measure of poverty or cost of living in societies where people may not even understand what a dollar means in relation to the local currency and standards of living creates a false image of poverty in the real sense. Moreover, living on one US dollar per day is not feasible, as the majority of people in the rural areas of Uganda depend on their gardens or stored harvests and not on supermarket shopping, with its exorbitant costs of living. Besides, the value of a dollar fluctuates and as such affects people in

50 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level different societies in different ways (The Republic of Uganda, 2012a; Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2012). However, according to the The Republic of Uganda (2012a), welfare issues are still low, with 24.5 percent of the population living below a dollar a day in 2009/2010, having declined from 31.1 percent in 2005/2006. This implies that as per 2009 records, 7.5 million people lived under poverty levels. For instance, while 79 percent of rural households use kerosene candles or lanterns (locally known as etadooba)9 for lighting, only 41 percent in urban areas use electricity. Furthermore, the total labor force increased from 10.9 million people in 2005/2006 to 13.4 million people in 2009/2010, whereas the unemployment rate was 9.5 percent in urban areas and 3.0 percent in rural areas. Moreover, of the 66 percent of the population still engaged in agriculture, the majority are women using traditional methods and tools. According to the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, overall unemployment was 4.2 percent in 2009/2010, and urbanization population growth rates were estimated at 5.1 percent in 2012 (The Republic of Uganda, 2012a). However, as noted earlier, despite women’s high economic opportunity index of 97/113, Uganda still has a high Gender Inequality Index of 109/138 with a score of 0.557, and it was positioned 116th out of 146 countries for which data is available (UNDP, 2011b; Wikigender, 2008). Similarly, the gender equity index of 61/157 is still low, with Uganda ranked 29th out of 135 countries for which data is available, with a score of 0.7220, where 0 denotes inequality and 1 signifies equality (UNDP, 2011b, 2011c; Wikigender, 2008).10

9 Okudooba refers to failing to make ends meet. Therefore, etadooba is the name given to the lamp in reference to its cost effectiveness and its economical use of kerosene. Even with a drop of kerosene, one can light and use the etadooba and life continues. 10 The Gender Inequality Index (GII) is a reflection measure of inequalities in achievements of women relative to men in terms of (1) reproductive health, measured by maternal mortality ratio and adolescent birth rates, (2) socio-economic empowerment, measured with proportions of adult females and males age 25 and above with at least secondary education and economic status expressed in the labor market participation ratio of female and male populations age 15 and above, and (3) political empowerment indicated by the proportion of parliamentary seats occupied by women relative to men in the country. On the other hand, the Gender Equity or Equality Index (GEI) is the measure of women’s disadvantages and gaps in how women and men are assigned different responsibilities, rights, benefits and opportunities in the activities that they perform, in access to use, control and ownership of resources and in decision- making processes. While the GII is societal-based information, GEI is based on available information that can be used comparatively internationally to classify and rank countries in accordance with a selection of gender inequality indicators in the three (education, economic and political) empowerment dimensions. Thus, GEI is a means to reflect all situations that are unfavorable to women, indicating women’s proportional disadvantage relative to men.

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 51

Therefore, the pertinent question for this study is related to the first part of the fourfold mission of the unrelenting violation of women’s rights and gender inequality, despite women’s involvement in income-generating activities and contribution to the nation’s GDP, indicated at 16.81 billion USD (Index Mundi, 2012; Wikigender, 2008). It is important to note that while schooled women may be economically empowered through formal employment, the majority who are not, or not highly, educated are engaged in informal projects as their income-generating activities. Economic attainments are planned through individual efforts, family projects or self-help organizations or group rights from Grassroots Women’s Organizations (GWOs) (Nduhukhire, 2004; Snyder, 2000; UNDP, 2012c). In 1997, Uganda started a Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP), whose aim was to reduce the population living in absolute poverty to 10 percent by 2017 through modernization of agriculture (Bahiigwa, Rigby & Woodhouse, 2005). Moreover, the strategy targeted women, the majority of whom are in the agricultural sector. The logic behind PEAP and the modernization of agriculture is to increase production with commercial-oriented farming to improve the economic status of women (Bahiigwa et al., 2005). Additionally, in 1991, Uganda initiated a credit scheme of entandikwa, meaning start-off capital, to help both men and women, especially in rural areas, to start income-generating projects (Lakwo, 2007; URN, 2007). In 2006, the Government of Uganda started massive programs of Bona Bagagawale, meaning support for all people to be rich (President Museveni’s Manifesto, see NRM Caucus, 2006). According to URN (2007), under the Bona Bagagawale program the government established Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations (SACCOs) in 1,000 sub-counties throughout Uganda. These organizations are intended to increase people’s access to credit and low-cost loans, which would otherwise be hard to obtain without collateral, especially for women, enabling them to invest in projects and boost their household incomes. Also, while people investing in commercial businesses are paying 17 percent interest on their loans, those that invest in agriculture, the majority of whom are women, pay annual interest of only 13 percent on their loans (URN, 2007). Therefore, the Bona Bagagawale program has motivated more women,

Furthermore, GII is a measure of human development costs as a result of gender inequalities (the higher the GII value the more the disparities between females and males, and countries with high GII are indicated to experience more unequal distribution of human development). Moreover, the final value on the GEI is a result of the degree of negative inequality for women in a country, regardless of whether there may be inequalities that are positive for women and negative for men.

52 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level as individuals and in groups, to access loans and engage in income-generating activities (Lakwo, 2007; Snyder, 2000), hoping to be liberated from dependent situations that put them in a subordinate position. According to the report on employment and cash earnings among married women, the housewives have also greatly contributed to improving the living standards of their households and to increasing GDP and per capita income (Index Mundi, 2013; Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2006; Wikigender, 2008). However, according to the same report (Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2006), women have not necessarily attained equality or autonomy to own and control their achieved assets in their family relations (Index Mundi, 2012; Lakwo, 2007; Okwii, 2013; Wikigender, 2008). Studies in Ankore as in other regions show that whereas reducing the income inequalities between countries through women’s capabilities and contributions is desirable, it has remained a political move in Uganda without necessarily and automatically solving gender inequalities in property rights of women relative to their husbands at the household level (Lakwo, 2007; Muhumuza, 2002; Mushemeza, 2009; Nduhukhire, 2004). As indicated above, considering the national registered financial increment at 40.7 percent in financial year 2009/2010-2010/2011, the gender inequality score at 0.557 and the gender equity score at 0.7220 (CIA, 2013; The Republic of Uganda, 2012b) in relation to domestic violence rates given for households in Uganda (Index Mundi, 2012; Okwii, 2013; Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2006; Wikigender, 2008), the implication is that women’s economic contribution to national or family wealth has not guaranteed their equality with men at the household level. All these findings suggest that married women’s increased incomes do not necessarily and directly improve their gender relations with their husbands at the household level (Bahiigwa et al., 2005; Lakwo, 2007).

2.4.3 Women’s empowerment in policy In order to find out whether the inclusion of women in policy-making and political positions has improved gender relations and the status of women in decision-making relative to their husbands at the household level, I examined how and why women were, in the first place, included in political and policy- making positions. Political administration, in terms of policy-making and social services, tends to influence other factors (education, economy and protection of the populace). The programs for improving gender relations and the status of women are well established in the 1995 constitution of Uganda and the Local

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 53

Government Act of 1997 through the four- or five-tier11 system and gender- inclusive affirmative action (Ahikire, 2003; Tamale, 2000; Tripp et al., 2009). My major emphasis, therefore, is on what the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Government in Uganda (since 1986) has achieved through the constitution and local government policy in addressing women’s discrimination in political positions and how these policies at the national level translate to gender relations at the household level where men and women live together. In the analysis of women’s empowerment through political decision- and policy-making positions, my study focuses on the 1995 constitution, beginning with a historical overview of current constitutional efforts in relation to gender equality.

2.4.3.1 The constitution of Uganda and gender relations Uganda has had a long history of constitution-making (from 1962 to 1995) to attain a constitution that has been praised for being gender-sensitive (Kafumbe, 2009; Waliggo, 2002). For instance, the current constitution, which was prom- ulgated on 8 October, 1995 by the NRM government was heralded by the 1962, 1966 and 1967 constitutions, which paid no attention to women’s concerns. However, it is important to note that the NRM government came to power after the armed protest war against the rigged 1980 elections that declared Obote as a winner, leaving the masses divided (Kirunda-Kivejinja, 1995; Wapakhabulo, 2001). Therefore, the NRM Government, though with military power, needed to form an administrative structure across the country that would unite people (Ahikire, 2003; Mamdan & Oloka, 1994; Museveni, 1997; Tripp, 2000). This was achieved through the creation of a broad-based government named the National Resistance Movement, which accommodated all citizens regardless of political inclination, tribe, religion, social class or gender (Matembe, 2002; Museveni, 1997). The logic was to embrace all people who, if left out, would potentially create problems for the newly formed administration (Mamdan & Oloka, 1994; Matembe, 2002; Museveni, 1997; Tripp, 2000). Women were seen as part of this category (Tamale, 2000; Tripp et al., 2009). More so, this was seen as a moment of rewarding women for their support during the guerilla war (1980-1986), in which they were practically fully involved as mobilizers at both the local and national levels (Tayeebwa, 2004). Additionally, the constitution-making process that was established was based on the principle of consultation through the Local Council structure

11 The four- or five-tier system in Uganda refers to administrative hierarchy right from the Village level (LC1), through Parishes (LC2), Sub-counties or Divisions (LC3) (in the case of towns) and Counties or Municipalities (LC4) (in the case of towns) to Districts (LC5).

54 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level mandates that one third of seats be reserved for women (The Republic of Uganda, 1995).12 In this process, women were brought on board to participate in the country’s politics and positions of policy-making (Kashambuzi, 2012; Muhumuza, 2002; Tamale, 2000). This has become a revolutionary change from previous regimes and gender-exclusive constitutions. As a result, in 2006, out of 28 Ministers, 7 (25 percent) were females and also out of 43 State Ministers, 7 (16.3 percent) were females (Tripp et al., 2009). At the time of writing (2013), the speaker of Parliament is a woman and the percentage of women parliamentarians has increased from 24.6 to 37.2 (UNDP, 2011b). Although this percentage is still small, it represents a big improvement in terms of being gender-inclusive in national governance compared to past times when there was not a single woman in a political position of jurisdiction (Ahikire, 2003; Tamale, 2000; Tripp et al., 2009). Additionally, women’s involvement and efforts have used the political space offered to influence government policies that affect women (Tripp, 2001; Tripp et al., 2009). For instance, although the Domestic Relations Bill (see below) has taken long and was eventually rejected in parliamentary discussions and by the populace (Namutebi & Warubiri, 2013), it is women’s groups that have mobilized and pushed for its consideration (Bwambale, 2013; Kiggundu & Walusimbi, 2013). Similarly, influential women activists and role models have inspired other women in their political development and fight for women’s rights. Recognized examples include Miria Matembe, renowned women’s activist and member of Parliament (Mbarara district) from 1996 to 2006, and Winnie Byanyima, who served as a member of the constituent assembly that drafted the 1995 Uganda constitution. Moreover, Byanyima served two consecutive terms as a member of Parliament (Mbarara municipality) from 1994-2004, before she was appointed as director of the African Union’s Women, Gender and Development Directorate from 2004 until 2013, when she became executive director of Oxfam, the UNDP Gender Team (Arinaitwe, 2013). Listing Ugandan women politicians and their profiles is not the intention of this study. However, I want to mention the country’s greatest women’s political achievement of appointing Specioza Naigaga Wandera Kazibwe from 1994 to 2003 as Vice President, a policy-making position and at that time the first and only woman in all of Africa to hold that post (Kituo Cha Katiba, 2013; Tamale,

12 The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, 1995, Chapter 6, Article 78, sub-section 1a and 1b, p. 49 guarantees “one woman representative for every district, although women can also become members of Parliament by competing with men and directly be elected to represent constituencies.”

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 55

2000; Tripp, 2000). These few examples given above are an indication that in Uganda women are not just passive spectators, but are well-placed in political decision- and policy-making positions to address factors that affect women and gender relations and to promote social justice at all levels of society. However, as mentioned earlier in the country’s demography, differences in terms of tribes and religious denominations have remained a challenge to the constitutional empowerment of women. For example, different tribes and religions have different practices, and these form different family laws, most of which are gender-discriminative and contrary to the constitution (Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010; Wikigender, 2008). Moreover, although civil law prevails where customary and religious practices violate human rights (Okwii, 2013; The Republic of Uganda, 1995), constitutional protection is no guarantee due to weak legal institutional systems and corruption (Wikigender, 2008). For example, the constitutional law on children’s custody specifies that both parents are responsible for supporting their offspring. However, the customary law holds that children belong to their father’s lineage and should there be divorce, women should leave their children behind with their fathers. The law does not enforce both parents’ rights and in most cases women are denied access to the children they left behind (Wikigender, 2008). Furthermore, Uganda’s constitution has policies and frameworks regarding gender property rights, such as the protection of widows’ right to inherit 15 percent of their deceased husband’s property and equal inheritance rights to all children, irrespective of gender (The Republic of Uganda, 1995, Chapter 4, Article 31.2). However, it leaves its implementation at the discretion of the deceased on how to distribute the family property. Moreover, the 2000 Land Act Amendment and the final draft of Land Policy (The Republic of Uganda, 2011) give women the right of consent about family land transactions. How- ever, enforcement is lacking, and as a result, practices that impede women’s land rights have continued to dominate, keeping women in a disadvantaged position in family relations (Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010; Wikigender, 2008).

2.4.3.2 Uganda’s political quota system and gender relations One way of increasing the number of women in policy and political decision- making positions has been through a quota system (Museveni, 1997; Tamale, 2000, 2003a; Tripp, 2003). Politically, through the affirmative action of quotas that was introduced in 1989, women are integrated in the administrative system of the country at all levels of the five-tier local government system (Murembe, Mokhawa & Sebudubudu, 2005; Tamale, 2003a; The Republic of Uganda

56 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level

1995, 1997). For instance, as mentioned earlier, the constitution of Uganda guarantees one woman representative in the Parliament for every district, although women can also compete with men to represent the constituents (Tamale, 2003a; The Republic of Uganda, 1997). Similarly, at the district or municipal and city council levels, one of the two youth’s councilors has to be a woman, one of the two councilors with disabilities has to be a woman, and women councilors also form a third of the district or town councils (The Republic of Uganda, 1997). The Local Governments (Amendments) Act (1997, Article 11, sub-sections c to e, p. 15 and Article 4, sub-sections 1 to 5, p. 12) suggests the same composition of councilors throughout the four- or five-tier system, as already explained, from LC1 to LC4 or LC5 depending on whether it is a municipality or district. The aim is to have 30 percent women delegates. This is considered a critical mass for effective representation and influence in any institution (Tamale, 2003a). This affirmative action confirms the political empowerment of women through positions of policy and societal decision- making. For example, Tamale (2003a) explains that although Uganda, with 24.6 percent of women in policy and decision-making positions, fell slightly below the 30 percent set by the United Nations in 1992, the country ranked 6th in Africa after Rwanda (48.8 percent), Mozambique (30 percent), South Africa (29.8 percent), Seychelles (29.4 percent) and Namibia (25 percent). Women’s political participation in Uganda shows a steady increase in statistical figures, though not necessarily towards attainment of gender equality. For instance, with the affirmative action of the quota system through the National Resistance Council, established in 1989 by the National Resistance Movement Govern- ment, 24 women were elected to parliamentary seats. During the 6th Parliament of Uganda (1996-2001), there were 39 districts, and hence 39 women were elected as female district members of Parliament. In the 7th Parliament (2001- 2006), Uganda had formed 17 new districts, so women secured 56 seats in the Parliament. Moreover, in the 8th Parliament (2006-2011), Uganda had 217 constituency representatives, out of which 99 (31 percent) were women. Of these, 79 were district women representatives, 14 had competed with men in the general elections and 6 went to the Parliament representing special interest groups (people with disabilities, youth, workers’ union, ex-officio members, and Uganda Peoples’ Defence Force). Furthermore, with new constituencies created in 2010, Uganda’s 9th Parliament (2011-2015) comprises 375 members with 129 (34.4 percent) women parliamentarians. However, the number of women competing with men in the general elections fell from 16 in 2006 to 11 in 2011; and of the 129 women members of Parliament, 112 represented the constituencies as a result of the quota system’s affirmative action. According to

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 57

Kadaga (2013), this is an indication that women have not yet broken through the barriers to compete favorably with men for political and policy-making positions in Uganda. However, one needs to know that despite the glittering image of an increasing number of women in positions of policy and political decision-making at the macro level, and despite the existence of a full Ministry of Gender and Social Development responsible for the protection and promotion of the rights of vulnerable women, gender disparities in the country are still evident. For instance, according to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (2006), rates of domestic violence against married women in Uganda are still high at 68 percent. Also, the Gender Inequality Index of Uganda is still high, registering at 0.557 and ranked 116th out of 146 countries, and the global gender inequality score of the country is 0.7220 (UNDP, 2011b; Wikigender, 2008). This information can serve as an indication that gender relations and the position of women in family relations have not equally improved. As several authors have argued, without gender equality, equity and protection of women’s rights at the household level, even if the women concerned are politically well-placed at the international, national and societal levels to influence government policies, it is awkward to claim that women’s empowerment has been successful (Okwii, 2013; Tamale, 2000). Moreover, it is known that Specioza Wandira Kazibwe, Uganda’s vice- president (1994-2003), a surgeon and a Nnalongo (mother of twins, traditionally and usually accorded high social respect), separated with her husband for domestic violence and wife-beating reasons (Flanagan, 2002). Specioza is not alone in the trap of deep-seated, oppressive gender inequalities in marital and family relations, despite high social and political status; she merely declared it openly and quit a bitter marital relationship (Flanagan, 2002). If the vice- president’s political and socio-economic position did not protect her own rights in gender and family relations, it follows that she could not use it to fight for the protection of other women’s rights in their families. In other words, empowerment at the macro level may not necessarily translate into household empowerment in terms of improved gender relations. In some cases women’s political and socio-economic achievements have intensified their husbands’ opposition and cultural resistance against equality, as in the case of the rejection of the Domestic Relations Bill and as in the form of domestic violence (Flanagan, 2002; Lakwo, 2007; Okwii, 2013; Wikigender, 2008;).

58 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level

2.4.3.3 The Domestic Relations Bill The resistance to and rejection of the Domestic Relations Bill (DRB) by Ugandans (Lumu, 2013; L. Ndagire, 2013) is an important reference for my study of women’s empowerment and gender relations in decision-making at the household level. I will therefore elaborate on it in relation to cultural resistance as related to the ethnocentrism and orientalism theories explained by some African feminist authors (Amadiume, 1997; Mikell, 1997; Oyèrónkẹ́, 1997; see Chapter 1). The Domestic Relations Bill (DRB) is a crucial document of legislation for Uganda’s women and one of the tools that women activists and women organizations in the country have pushed to address gender discrimination and inequality at the household level (Byamukama, 2013; Struensee & Vanessa, 2004). Moreover, the DRB has a long history of previous attempts that need to be understood for purposes of examining its resistance and rejection. According to the Uganda Law Reform Commission (2010), the revival of the DRB’s discussions commenced in 1994. But prior to this, several attempts to reform the country’s domestic relations laws had been made by various actors and stakeholders with little or no success (Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). To substantiate this point, I will briefly discuss the genesis of the marriage and divorce bill, commonly known as DRB. To ensure that the existing laws and customs were consistent with justice and morality and were appropriate regarding marriage, divorce and the status of women in Uganda, in 1964 a commission of marriage and divorce, popularly known as the “Kalema Commission”, was set up (Kalema, 1965; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). This commission’s report noted that existing laws were outdated, having been enacted between 1906 and 1916 during the colonial era. Additionally, as explained in Section 2.2, these laws discriminated against the populace and were inappropriate on the basis of differences in religions and tribes, cultural practices, localities and material affluence at the household level (Kiggundu & Walusimbi, 2013; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010; Wikigender, 2008). However, no action was taken on these findings and recommendations, and gender relations therefore remained discriminative (Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010; Wikigender, 2008). In 1972, an amendment was made to the Succession Act that applied to the African population in Uganda and provided a formula for the distribution of estates and property in cases of Interstate Succession (Struensee & Vanessa, 2004; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). The second act was on customary marriage, setting the minimum age of registration of marriage at 16 and 18 years for females and males, respectively (Struensee & Vanessa, 2004;

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 59

Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). However, the Uganda Law Reform Commission (2010) report noted that the Kalema Commission’s findings of 1965 in reference to outdated laws, being discriminative and ignoring cultural, religious and affluence differences, were again totally ignored. Consequently, no resolution was taken and gender discrimination persisted (Okwii, 2013). In 1974, the marriage and divorce law reform project under the (then) Department of Law Reform in the Ministry of Justice was set up, but it too made no progress until a commission in March, 1994 produced a new draft DRB (Struensee & Vanessa, 2004; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). Since then, there have been a lot of publicity and campaigns on gender equality issues by media, public officers (Mamdan & Oloka, 1994; Matembe, 2002; Museveni, 1997; Namutebi & Warubiri, 2013), academic publications (Kyomuhendo & McIntosh, 2006; Tripp et al., 2009) and NGOs (Kwesiga et al., 1995; Mukama, 1995; Nalunkuma, 2005; Namusoke, 1995).13 It is important to note, however, that these calls generally take an instrumentalist form of advocacy for gender equality and women’s empowerment as a means to achieve and sustain other development goals (UNDP, 2012a, 2012c, 2012d). According to Kafumbe (2009), the DRB has been awaiting approval in the House of Parliament of Uganda for the last 47 years, and it was hoped that enacting it would improve the status of women in gender relations (Najjemba, 2013). The DRB seeks to reform and consolidate justice in the marriage and divorce law. According to Najjemba (2013), the most contentious issues include recognizing cohabiting as a form of marriage, sharing property upon divorce, removal of bride price and its refund in the event of divorce. Put differently, the bill spells out women’s rights protected during the duration and dissolution of marriage, which include marital property rights, especially definition and ownership of the matrimonial home, institution of polygyny and matters of cohabiting, significance of marriage gifts to the validity of a marriage, sexual rights in a marriage, issues of succession, inheritance and domestic violence (Kafumbe, 2009; Struensee & Vanessa, 2004; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). Additionally, it would also clarify Article 33.1 of the constitution of Uganda, which accords women full and equal dignity with men (The Republic of Uganda, 1995). For several authors (Kafumbe, 2009; Lumu, 2013; L. Ndagire, 2013; Okwii, 2013), the most salient contentious issue in the Domestic Relations Bill, which

13 The coalition included Action Aid, Action for Development, Akiika Uganda Alliance, Akina Mama wa Africa, Law and Advocacy for Women in Uganda, Association of Ugandan Women Medical Doctors, Association of Women Judges, Association of Women Lawyers, FIDA Uganda and the Foundation for Human Rights Initiatives.

60 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level has caused heated opposition, resistance and therefore delays in its approval into law, is property rights. While the DRB advocates for co-ownership of property by spouses to protect wives from being thrown out of homes empty- handed despite their contributions (Lakwo, 2007; The Republic of Uganda, 1995, 2011), the custom of family property inheritance through males, as was earlier explained, still excludes the majority of women from land ownership (The Republic of Uganda, 2011; Tukahirwa, 2002; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). While there is no law that prevents women from owning land in Uganda, 80 percent of agricultural production is done by women with user rights, and only 7 percent by women owning agricultural land (Kafumbe, 2009; The Republic of Uganda, 2011, 2012a). In the case of divorce, the DRB provides for family wealth sharing between husband and wife, which husbands are neither prepared nor willing to do (Kafumbe, 2009; Struensee & Vanessa, 2004; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010; Wikigender, 2008). The argument is that if a husband refuses to share family property ownership rights with his wife when they are married, how will he then give her property upon divorce (Okwii, 2013)? Moreover, the law seems to be weak in implementing what is written on paper (Wikigender, 2008) Other controversial concerns are polygyny and payment of bride wealth as a practice in most tribes in Uganda (Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). As explained, the cultural practice in Ankore families expects a man to give bride wealth (enjugano) to the girl’s parents. Should the marriage fail, rather than compensating her for the time, the children given birth to and the work done, her parents are supposed to refund it, irrespective of the years she has spent in her marital home (Benywanira, 1997; Karwemera, 1994; Mubangizi, 1963; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). The controversy is that while the DRB does not prohibit polygamy or payment of enjugano, it provides for it to be non-refundable14 (Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). According to several authors (Benywanira, 1997; Karwemera, 1994; Mubangizi, 1963), the payment of enjugano is seen as subjecting women to slavery since their families are not willing to refund it. It is also interpreted as devaluing and reducing women to objects of trade (Bwambale, 2013; Kafumbe, 2009). Moreover, according to Judge Amos Twinomujuni, bride wealth in Uganda has been commercialized and is highly exploitative and humiliating to

14 In the traditional practices of Ankore families, refund of bride wealth is the only way to nullify a previous customary marriage, hence setting a woman free for the next possible suitor. Otherwise, she remains legally bound to the previous husband from whom she separated.

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 61 women and also to the family that demands it or its refund and to the one that is supposed to refund it. Besides, its refund violates the constitutional provision that protects women’s rights (Kafumbe, 2009; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). Therefore, according to Bwambale (2013) and Kafumbe (2009), the DRB seeks to challenge this “harmful and archaic” culture. Further- more, Kafumbe (2009) argues that passing the DRB would create sustainable gender equality, equity and enjoyment of full rights by all Ugandans. For several authors, the success of the DRB, however, largely depends on the strong political will and commitment to pass it and later educate communities about women’s rights (Byamukama, 2013; Kafumbe, 2009). On the other hand, the Hon. Dora Byamukama, legal expert and women’s activist, argues that it is not the content of the bill that engenders controversy and resistance, but rather the myths and misconceptions about it (Byamukama, 2013), which indicates the need for a change of attitude and acceptability in order to change cultural practices (Kafumbe, 2009; Wikigender, 2008). Although Uganda has enacted several laws, their implementation has remained difficult and posed a challenge to attaining gender equality. Whereas traditions deeply entrenched in patriarchal attitudes are presented as the major obstacles in the implementation of the laws (Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010, p. 13), additional challenges include inadequate access to justice due to women’s insufficient information on their rights and the laws protecting them (Kafumbe, 2009). Moreover, these challenges are compounded by community influence and social pressure, costs involved, inefficiency in legal procedures, such as poor facilitation, and inadequate law enforcement capacity and capabilities in institutions, such as the police and judiciary charged with the protection of women’s rights (Kafumbe, 2009; B. Ndagire, 2013; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). Accordingly, poor facilitation of the protective units has turned out to be the main reason for them being corrupt. For instance, according to B. Ndagire (2013), the 2013 Justice Law and Order Sector report presents the police force as one of the most corrupt of the 15 studied institutions, with police officers demanding “facilitation” from the people who seek security and protection from them.15 Moreover, law enforcement officials still consider domestic

15 The 15 institutions studied are: Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Judiciary, Uganda Police Force, Uganda Prison Service, Directorate of Public Prosecutions, Judicial Service Commission, Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (Probation and Juvenile Justice), Uganda Law Reform Commission, Uganda Human Rights Commission, Law Development Centre, Tax

62 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level violence cases and wife beating as a husband’s right and a private family matter (B. Ndagire, 2013). Thus for B. Ndagire (2013), in light of these challenges, the Domestic Violence Act passed in 2009 is a law in name and on paper without much success in eliminating gender inequalities and improving the position of women in marital and family relations. It is remarkable to note that although the Domestic Relations Bill had spent over 47 years on the shelf, the Catholic archbishop of Kampala, Cyprian Kizito Lwanga still warned members of Parliament not to pass the marriage and divorce bill in “haste”, as it may not benefit Ugandans (Bwambale, 2013). Additionally, while the proposed marriage and divorce law is in line with the constitution of Uganda16 and is intended to promote peace and justice (Byamukama, 2013), the bill is opposed on moral, economic and social grounds (Bwambale, 2013). For instance, whereas the bill seeks to recognize cohabitation as marriage after 10 years of a couple living together, this position is termed as “immoral and sinful” by religious leaders (Bwambale, 2013; Lumu, 2013). Similarly, according to Kiggundu and Walusimbi (2013, p. 1), President Museveni cautioned members of Parliament not to “hurry” in passing the bill, which he termed “the bill for the so-called elite women” and one he feared will cause war in the country rather than uniting the populace. Such resistance has finally resulted in the rejection of the long overdue bill, further perpetuating the disadvantaged position of women in marital and family relations (Lumu, 2013; L. Ndagire, 2013).

2.4.4 Legal institutions and the management of gender-based violence This section analyzes how traditional and modern mechanisms and institutions and their operations have influenced women’s empowerment. Like other traditional practices, peace building and conflict resolution mechanisms have also undergone several changes over the past centuries (Barya & Oloka- Onyango, 1994; Khadiagala, 2002; Mubangizi, 1963). However, as Atim and Proctor (2013) and Yvonne (2012) express, most of the changes have largely weakened traditional systems of operation whose strengths were based on the

Appeals Tribunal, Uganda Law Society, Centre for Arbitration and Dispute Resolution and Uganda Registration Services Bureau. 16 The Constitution of Uganda, Article 26.1 mentions that every person has a right to own property, individually or in association with others, and Article 26.2 provides that no person shall be compulsorily deprived of property, except where certain conditions are satisfied in accordance with the law. This means that the bill would strengthen and respect the marriage vow, “All that I have, I share with you” wherein the couple promises to share all that they have.

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 63 will of popular justice in the rule of the people, which was centered on the social demands of community living and humaneness (obuntu). Moreover, it required understanding and respect of community social values, compromise, forgiveness and cooperation by the conflicting parties, i.e., the offender and the victim (Atim & Proctor, 2013; Yvonne, 2012). Furthermore, traditional reconciliation processes involved the performance of rituals committing the conflicting parties to speak the truth and acknowledge a violation of the rules for community living (Atim & Proctor, 2013; Behrman, Billings & Amber, 2013; Mubangizi, 1963; Turyomumazima, 2005). However, the traditional mechanisms (i.e., rituals and practices) met negative criticism from a Western perspective, especially religious teaching, as being satanic and primitive (Kasenene, 1993; Mpangala, 2004; Mubangizi, 1963; Turyomumazima, 2005). Moreover, the younger generations who are involved in formal legal institutions lack traditional knowledge of conflict resolution, and their negative attitude towards traditions is exacerbated by tendencies towards globalization, modernization, Western ethnocentrism and orientalism (Atim & Proctor, 2013; Behrman et al., 2013; Turyomumazima, 2005). Conversely, despite the shortfalls, the traditional mechanisms are still in use, sometimes in contradiction with the rule of law in the legal system and the constitution of Uganda (Atim & Proctor, 2013; Behrman et al., 2013). On the other hand, Uganda adopted and practices the conventional rule of law according to the British system (Atim & Proctor, 2013; Barya & Oloka- Onyango, 1994; The Republic of Uganda, 2010). In addition to the system being alien to the diverse traditional practices, there are several shortfalls and inefficiencies in the country’s legal system, such as a poor understanding of the rule of law and its inaccessibility by the locals, a non-responsive atmosphere of delays in passing verdicts, lack of transparency, financial and social costs, corruption, incompetence in the system and impunity of the offenders. All this is despite the government of Uganda’s several reforms to improve judicial services to the people (Mamdan & Oloka, 1994; Mushemeza, 2009), such as, for instance, the extension of judicial powers to the Local Councils, particularly LC1, LC2 and LC3 in 1988 (The Republic of Uganda, 1997, 2010). The Local Council institution, being community-based, is considered both traditional and conventional with the added advantages of providing affordable, effective and culturally appropriate forms of conflict resolution mechanisms for alternative justice (Khadiagala, 2002; The Republic of Uganda, 1997). Addi- tionally, according to The Republic of Uganda (2010), the extension of judicial authority to the LCs is to address legal institutions’ challenges, most especially

64 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level the growing cases of backlog,17 physical distance to service institutions (usually in urban centers), costs involved in terms of time and funds, language barriers (mostly for women due to high illiteracy rates compared to men) and an intimidating atmosphere in courts of law (Atim & Proctor, 2013; The Republic of Uganda, 2010). Furthermore, the LC judicial councils are composed of village mates or familiar people, one third of them being women, all members aware of the living conditions of the feuding families or people (Khadiagala, 2002; Tamale, 1993). Moreover, the LC courts work hand in hand with the government’s formal institutions, particularly by referring unresolved and criminal cases to higher levels of the judicial system (The Republic of Uganda, 1997, 2010).There are also magistrates of Grade I and Grade II level who assist at LC3 sub-county judicial courts as legal advisors (Barya & Oloka-Onyango, 1994; Tamale, 1993; The Republic of Uganda, 2010). Secondly, the government of Uganda improved the rule of law by making law reforms and amendments such as the Trial on Indictments Amendment Act 2007, the Magistrate Courts Amendment Act 2007, the Penal Code Amend- ment Act 2007, the Local Councils Court Act 2006, the Police Act 2006 and the Prisons Act 2006 (The Republic of Uganda, 2011, p. 291). Moreover, there are sensitization and awareness campaigns on the rule of law and human rights by government in partnership with NGOs and private entities (The Republic of Uganda, 2011; Tripp & Kwesiga, 2002; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). With the above strategies in place, according to The Republic of Uganda (2010) review of court performance in 2008, there were improvement rates of 10 percent per annum. The report indicates that the cases of backlog by June 2008 stood at 168,726 cases, of which 85,516 were filed between June 2007 and June 2008. Of this caseload, approximately 40,046 cases are pending of all the nationally reported cases on land, family, criminal and commercial justice (The Republic of Uganda, 2010). However, while there is reported progress in court performance, the judicial sector continues to face challenges with pending investigations, as indicated in Table 2.6.

17 Backlog refers to any matter that has not been dealt with 2 years from the date of filing (The Republic of Uganda, 2010).

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 65

Table 2.6 Case disposal rates in financial year 2008/2009 Court Level Brought Filed July Disposed Disposal rate forward 2008/2009 2008/2009 July 2008 Supreme 61 19 19 23.0% Court of Appeal 1,814 597 275 11.4% High Court 27,543 9,550 9,068 24.4% Chief Magistrate 61,345 49,107 42843 38.7% Magistrate G 1 Court 13,058 22,278 21,243 60.0% Magistrate G 2 Court 2,827 5,732 5,361 62.6% Total 106,647 87,282 78,859 40.6% Source: JLSO Annual Report 2008/09 (The Republic of Uganda, 2010, p. 291)

Table 2.6 indicates better disposal rates at lower level courts where family and gender related cases are handled. However, the same report (The Republic of Uganda, 2010) analyzing gender responsiveness and family conflict resolution in the reported cases indicates that although disposed cases are high, the pending cases are even higher. Table 2.7 shows the pending and disposed family-related cases nationally registered in the same financial year, 2008/ 2009.

Table 2.7 Disposed and pending family-related cases in financial year 2008/2009 Cases brought Registered Disposed Pending Disposal rate Disposal rate forward 2007/2008 2008/2009 9,885 6,905 7,185 9,605 26.9% 42.7% Source: The Republic of Uganda (2010, p. 292)

From Table 2.7, the improvement in disposal rates from 26.9 percent in 2007/2008 to 42.7 percent in 2008/2009, without much reduction in the pending cases, is a clear indication of an increase in gender and family-related issues. Besides delays in passing judgments, there are other general challenges related to formal legal institutions in terms of “women’s issues” and protection of women in family conflict resolution systems. These include disagreement of traditional values with practices approved by the Uganda constitution in line with international obligations of gender and human rights and a lack of information on legal provisions, not only by women but also by those who are expected to use them, especially at the lower levels of LC1, LC2 and LC3 (Barya & Oloka-Onyango, 1994; Khadiagala, 2002; Mushemeza, 2009).

66 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level

Furthermore, while traditional mechanisms expect the conflicting parties to forgive and compromise to meet the social demands of the community, the legal mechanism requires parties to ground their claims with proof and evidence of violations of human rights (Atim & Proctor, 2013; Barya & Oloka- Onyango, 1994; Tamale, 1993). In societies that treat family issues with top secrecy, little evidence is revealed to the public. As such, either the case is dismissed on the grounds of a lack of evidence beyond reasonable doubt or it remains pending under investigation (Atim & Proctor, 2013; Barya & Oloka- Onyango, 1994; Kashambuzi, 2012; Tamale, 1993; The Republic of Uganda, 2010). Moreover, there is a growing unwillingness of the offender (especially husbands) to accept the offense at lower LC level courts (or even at a higher level), as these courts are usually composed of his relatives and friends, with biases not to offer a fair hearing to the complainant woman (Atim & Proctor, 2013; Okwii, 2013). As such, in most cases, there is a tendency of lower level courts to refuse to give the victimized wife an appeal letter, which is required for the next higher levels (Atim & Proctor, 2013; Barya & Oloka-Onyango, 1994; Khadiagala, 2002). Moreover, the majority of women lack financial capacity and tend to give up on the family case under such circumstances (Atim & Proctor, 2013; Behrman et al., 2013). In judicial and family court institutions, there is generally a high task overload for the few existing personnel. For instance, according to The Republic of Uganda (2010) as of December 2009, there were 41 High Court judges compared to the required number of 82. By the end of financial year 2006/2007, the Criminal Investigations Directorate of the Uganda Police Force had only 2,442 personnel, presenting a workload of 98 cases per detective, compared to the expected optimum workload of 12 cases per detective per annum (The Republic of Uganda, 2010, p. 314). Additionally, studies shows that there is a general lack of competency, material resources, personnel skilled in gender issues and capabilities and knowledge of the rule of law, and Local Council 1 to 3 committees that form judicial institutions at the lower levels leave a lot to be desired (Barya & Oloka-Onyango, 1994; Khadiagala, 2002; Wikigender, 2008). Also, the expected complementary roles of traditional and formal legal mechanisms are limited by a lack of cultural knowledge, negative criticism and a lack of experience (Atim & Proctor, 2013). The legal system aims at bringing the offender (husband) to justice with punitive controls, such as financial penalties, and imprisonment coupled with hard labor and caning, which attracts revenge and wrath from the husband on his return and/or from his relatives and

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 67 friends, and most wives fear revenge and thus tend to avoid such a situation (Barya & Oloka-Onyango, 1994; Behrman et al., 2013; The Republic of Uganda, 2010). Moreover, the social pressure and blame against the wife who opts for a formal legal institution intimidates other women out of doing the same (Atim & Proctor, 2013; Behrman et al., 2013; L. Ndagire, 2013). Besides, members of the legal system, who are supposed to be well-informed and to assist other people in family problems, are also implicated as either offenders or victims of family and gender-based violence. Such incidences cause hesitation, mistrust and doubt among the victimized women in the use of the traditional, local and national legal systems in place. In this state of affairs, the majority of women tend to bear with the personal challenges (Khadiagala, 2002; Parpart, 2010) or to take the law into their own hands (Barya & Oloka- Onyango, 1994; Okwii, 2013; Wikigender, 2008).

2.4.5 Religious institutions and the status of women in family relations Institutionalized religious teachings about women and the management of family relations tend to contradict traditional indigenous systems, especially when it comes to marriage and family relations. When Christianity was introduced in Uganda and the rest of Africa, there were expected requirements. To begin with, to become a Christian, one had to be baptized in a specific denomination, had to be married in the church and had to continuously receive the sacraments (Kasenene, 1993; Tiberondwa, 1998; Turyomumazima, 2005). Such requirements meant monogamous marriage and necessitated separation or divorce from the several other women that a man had already customarily married. Rather than strengthening family relations and empowering women, such religious laws would not only break the marriage but also result in the vulnerability of women and children, whose identification with marital family members and children’s heritage is through a husband or a father (Kasenene, 1993; Mubangizi, 1963). However, husbands were expected to continue giving material support to the “abandoned families”, without conjugal rights or obligations (Mubangizi, 1963; Tiberondwa, 1998). The Ankore traditional saying embabazi z’omwana ziruga ahari nyina (meaning that the father’s kindness to the child comes from how its mother fulfills her sexual obligations) summarizes the complications that were caused. Either the husbands observed a new Christian life and abandoned their previous families, or they continued the relationships with their wives and abandoned religious teachings, or they combined both (Kasenene, 1993; Tiberondwa, 1998). Secondly, the Canon Law (1983) of the Catholic Church and the Christian teachings guided by the Bible prohibit divorce, which contradicts the pre-

68 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level requisite demand for being a Christian. The argument is based on the fact that Christian bible teaching is against divorce. Yet, Christianity in Ankore families found the majority of spouses already in polygamous relationships. To be converts (be baptized, have monogamous church marriage and continue to receive sacraments) meant retaining one wife and divorcing the other(s). So in addition to disrupting the traditional family values, divorce contradicts the demands of being a Christian and married for life (The Bible Society of Uganda, 1989; Mark 10:1-5 and 19:6). Traditional Ankore marriage could be dissolved through the return of enjugano, if deemed necessary (Kasenene, 1993; Mubangizi, 1963; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). Whereas Christian teachings on marriage emphasize monogamy, customary marriage law is silent but is potentially polygamous, whereby a man can marry more than one wife, in parallel or simultaneously (Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). Traditionally in Ankore, polygamy was practiced as a mechanism of solving marital and family problems related to childlessness with the first wife, but she would be kept in her position of a senior wife, despite her barrenness or any subsequent wives (Mbiti, 1997; Mubangizi, 1963). However, when Christian teachings of monogamy contradict valued polygamous practice in Ankore family relations, in most cases husbands tend to maintain their traditional practices in a clandestine way. Such a practice is noted to heighten the exploitation and vulnerability of women in marital and family relations, especially upon the death of a husband, when two or several families “discover” each other and remain antagonistic, particularly in sharing family resources (Wikigender, 2008). Like traditional Ankore practices, Islamic customary marriages are also potentially polygamous in that a man can marry more than one woman, but not more than four women at any given time, provided he can treat them equally in all material needs and matrimonial obligations. However, the husband must give the women mahari, which is money or property of a given value as a consideration for marrying him (FIDA Uganda, 2003, p. 8). The Islamic religion has much in common with traditional Ankore marriage and family relations in terms of family forms and resistance to external pressures, polygamous relations and parenthood, large family network systems and discouragement from the use of contraceptives (Dhami & Sheikh, 2000; Kasenene, 1993).

2.4.6 The role of NGOs and other actors in women’s empowerment The struggle of NGOs for women’s emancipation in Uganda goes way back to the colonial period, through independence and after, but most of them existed as charitable organizations under religious institutions (Kasenene, 1993).

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 69

However, the NGOs at that time did not contest colonial powers on women’s issues, and their main concern was to improve household conditions in health, nutrition and survival skills (Johansen, 2011; Matembe, 2002; Mushemeza, 2009). For better coordination, in 1978 the existing organizations merged to form the National Council for Women (NCW), which established a decree under the (then) Ministry of Community Development, which later became the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development (ACFODE, 2007; Mushemeza, 2009). However, the NCW lacked focus and independence, and the decree was manipulated by the government through the limiting of the formation and registration of women NGOs (ACFODE, 2007; Johansen, 2011; Matembe, 2002; Mushemeza, 2009). With women’s rights becoming an integral part of international, national and societal development issues, NGOs in the form of women’s movements have increasingly become key stakeholders in women’s empowerment in Uganda (ACFODE, 2007; Tripp & Kwesiga, 2002; UNDP, 2012c). As a consequence, in Uganda there has been an increase in the number of international, national and local NGOs, both private and faith-based ones, particularly since 1986, of which some are registered and others are not (Global Poverty Research Group, 2005; Kwesiga et al., 1995; Tripp, 2000; Woodroffe & Smee, 2012). For instance, according to ACFODE (1999) the Development Network of Indigenous Voluntary Associations (DENIVA) records over 2,000 NGOs. Similarly, the National Association of Women’s Organizations (NAWOU) has on its own registered more than 50 civil society organization (CSOs) and over 1,000 community-based organizations (CBOs) (ACFODE, 2006). The Global Poverty Research Group (2005) indicates 3,500 NGOs registered with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and it reveals problems of the non-registration of NGOs, non-performing NGOs, and delinquencies such as not following the declared consent or having poor policy frameworks. Some of the registered NGOs concerned with women and gender-related issues include the Forum for African Women Educationists (FAWE), Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Coalition Against Gender Violence (CAGV), Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE), Action for Women in Development (ACFODE), Uganda Women’s Efforts to Save Orphans (UWESO), Center for Conflicts Resolution (CECORE) and the Center for Disputes Resolution (CEDRE) (ACFODE, 2007; Hussain et al., 2008). According to the World Bank (2013), NGOs are a type of CSOs, which includes trade unions, faith-based organizations, human rights foundations and indigenous people’s associations like CBOs. The difference depends on their

70 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level organizational structure, functional interests, level of operation and funding sources (The World Bank, 2013). This study will only examine the role of NGOs and CBOs in the empowerment of women and as intermediary institutions that work to keep the government accountable to improve gender relations and human conditions (Hussain et al., 2008; The Republic of Uganda, 2010; The World Bank, 2013). Furthermore, NGOs include all those voluntary associations at the local level, such as community-based organizations (CBOs) and self-help organizations (SHOs) or at national or international levels, like women’s movements in civil society organizations (CSOs), usually driven by people with similar goals or needs (Behrman et al., 2013; Hussain et al., 2008; The World Bank, 2013). As such, different NGOs offer services in different fields of expertise, mostly in areas related to humanitarian, education, health, protection, human rights advocacy and gender issues, environment and sustainable development, either filling gaps or complementing or drawing the government’s attention to issues of people’s concern (Behrman et al., 2013; The Republic of Uganda, 2010). Whereas NGOs are not for profit, the majority of them receive financial or material support in form of donations to support their programs, which can result in profits and conflicting loyalties among group members (Bahiigwa et al., 2005; The World Bank, 2013). Furthermore, while NGOs are known to be independent of the government’s operations, they require the governments’ mandate, goodwill and support in conducting their activities. Also, sometimes they are controlled by governments or donor agencies and thus denied of autonomy and ultimately of performance (Behrman et al., 2013; Hussain et al., 2008; The World Bank, 2013; Tripp, 2001). Moreover, while some NGOs start from within their societies to mobilize, support and create awareness among women at local grassroots levels, others are externally initiated from a higher and wider level by analyzing and querying existing systems (Mushemeza, 2009; The World Bank, 2013; Tripp, 2001). Such an approach still needs the beneficiaries’ mandate and conviction for its sustainability. Additionally, NGOs provide information through networks that are formed and encourage women’s political participation. This has been the case in the implementation of the quota system to have the required number of women, including running in general elections against men at the national and local levels (The Republic of Uganda, 2010; The World Bank, 2013; Tripp, 2001; Tripp et al., 2009). It is important to note that the relationship between the women’s movements and the state determines their performance. For instance, some studies on the performance of women’s movements in Uganda in the struggle for

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 71 equality and women’s rights indicate levels of success compared to other countries in the region (Tripp, 2001; Tripp et al., 2009). This success has been attributed to favorable working relationships between women’s movements and the NRM government (ACFODE, 2007; Mushemeza, 2009; Tripp, 2001). It is noteworthy that whereas sometimes the role of NGOs is considered to be that of filling the gaps in human needs that are not adequately covered by the state or the market, NGOs and women’s networks in Uganda have played a distinctive role in the mobilization of women and the development of their projects (ACFODE, 2007; Johansen, 2011; Mushemeza, 2009; Tripp, 2001). For instance, Uganda granted women autonomy to mobilize, network and organize, and as such women gained the necessary freedom from government patronage politics to demand changes in the legislature concerning land rights and to push for the Domestic Relations Bill (ACFODE, 2006; Goetz, 2003; Mushemeza, 2009; The Republic of Uganda, 2011). Their voices had a big impact in political, social, economic and education sectors through the constitutional amendments, gender mainstreaming and affirmative action. For instance, through their voices, the Ministry for Gender and Women was established in 1988 with the creation of a women’s desk in every ministry to ensure the inclusion of women’s issues. This effort was followed by the appointment of a woman vice-president, Wandira Specioza Kazibwe in 1993, as the first female voice in a policy-making position (Johansen, 2011; Mushemeza, 2009). Moreover, these organizations do a lot of advocacy to increase women’s knowledge of their rights through television and radio programs and written materials (ACFODE, 2007; Mushemeza, 2009; Tripp, 2001). Additionally, some other NGOs are involved in training women and children to attain effective protection under the law (Namusoke, 1995; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). The local CBOs perform all the functions of NGOs including mobilization, training, support for income-generating projects and the use of traditional methods of advising couples facing conflicts. However, studies show that after the political transitions, the relationship between the women’s movements and the state has become constrained, competitive and subject to pressure for incorporation into the state agenda (Johansen, 2011; Kashambuzi, 2012; Muhumuza, 2002). According to Kashambuzi (2012), Muhumuza (2002), CBOs and NGOs are usually invited for consultative stakeholders’ meetings, but most of them give self-assessments of their performance and either fear or are reluctant to criticize the government’s political activities. Besides, some studies indicate that NGOs that are co-opted and work in accordance with the interests of the government are

72 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level sponsored in their programs, which sometimes compromises the goals of the organizations (Johansen, 2011; Kashambuzi, 2012; Muhumuza, 2002). Furthermore, most NGOs and CBOs are externally motivated and spearheaded by elite groups, mostly from urban areas, and are sometimes divided along ethnic, religious and economic class lines, which create divergent missions and interests (Johansen, 2011; Kashambuzi, 2012; Muhumuza, 2002; Nduhukhire, 2004). As such, the previously unitary inclusion beyond those classes that originally facilitated women’s movement’s effectiveness in Uganda has gradually made them unable to perform the role of keeping the government accountable in women’s issues (Johansen, 2011; Mushemeza, 2009). More- over, the prejudices within the society and state still treat gender and women issues as a private and family matter, and as such the government is either slow or hesitant to address them. And although the freedom of speech exists, it is normally ignored or neglected (Johansen, 2011; ACFODE, 2007; Mushemeza, 2009; L. Ndagire, 2013; Nduhukhire, 2004). Consequently, the empowerment avenues for making the government accountable for implementing women’s issues in development planning are weakened (Kashambuzi, 2012; Kwesiga et al., 1995; Nduhukhire, 2004; The Republic of Uganda, 2010). At the grassroots levels, most of the SHOs and CBOs are internally motivated to support each other and mitigate social and economic challenges (Nduhukhire, 2004). Although these are usually composed of men and women, such as mwezikye (we bury each other) and manya akabi (plan for crisis) or any other village groups, the central reason is to solve challenges usually shouldered by women in hard times of need. Some of these SHOs are encouraged to become savings and credit cooperative organizations (SACCO) in order to receive financial, material and technical support from the government (Kashambuzi, 2012; Nduhukhire, 2004). SACCOs are legal bodies under the Uganda Cooperative Statute of 1991 and Cooperative Society Regulations of 1992, and for purposes of accessing government loans the current (2013) law requires a minimum membership of 300 members (Kashambuzi, 2012; The Republic of Uganda, 2010). In so doing, as well as diverting the original intentions of members, the enormous membership required is hard to lead and organize with local management skills (Kashambuzi, 2012; Nduhukhire, 2004). Moreover, the government loan-motivated expansion of members has turned into a political platform during elections and patronage of the SHOs and village CBOs (Kashambuzi, 2012; Mushemeza, 2009; Nduhukhire, 2004). Furthermore, most NGOs have orientalist and ethnocentric tendencies towards civilizing and rescuing rural or grassroots women (Cargile & Bolkan, 2013; Mushemeza, 2009; Nduhukhire, 2004). As such, they have continuously

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 73 ignored cultural gender relations and male authority at the family level and are seen to be divisive, focusing on uplifting the status of women in a competitive manner with men (Nduhukhire, 2004; Wyrod, 2008). For instance, although family members are beneficiaries of NGOs’ development projects, their ownership and control of their outcomes are put in the hands of women, which tends to constrain traditional family hierarchy and family relations (Kashambuzi, 2012; Nduhukhire, 2004). In other words, solutions for universal women’s discrimination and inequality are not context-driven enough to address differences (of culture) beyond the similarities (gender inequalities) and therefore have implications on women in family relations in some localities more than others. As such, Lakwo (2007) and Wyrod (2008) argue that whereas married couples are aware of and sometimes tend to accommodate some aspects of Western women’s rights and autonomy that are advocated as approaches to empowerment, there is a high tendency to retain previous traditional notions of innate male authority. To reveal the Ankore people’s own situation and take on women’s empowerment and decision-making possibilities relative to husbands at the family level, my study uses an ethnographic approach to bring out people’s own voices. Only people’s own life experiences and voices can elucidate hidden realities and clarify how they understand or interpret issues in their own context. In Chapter 3, I will describe my research methods and the various categories of study participants that I consulted to collect field data on the life experiences of married women in Ankore families.

2.5 Conclusions

In this chapter I have described possible empowerment strategies, namely (1) increasing the number of women with formal education, (2) increasing women’s income levels, (3) promoting women’s participation in policy and political decision-making processes, and (4) promoting the establishment of intervening institutions in marital and family conflicts for women’s rights and family protection, as they have been implemented in Uganda. The literature discussed in Chapter 1 raised three main issues, namely (1) the diversity of definitions of the term empowerment, (2) its measurement, and (3) generalized measurements irrespective of the contexts in which the people are studied. Regarding the question of whether or not the societal position of women in terms of the elimination of traditional practices and empowerment (decision-making about the use, control and ownership of family resources) has

74 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level improved or has been achieved, on the basis of the literature discussed in this chapter, I can now formulate the following conclusions.

(1) In relation to women’s empowerment and practices that subordinate women (UN General Assembly, 1979), especially the giving of enjugano, polygamy and the property rights of women, the existing literature indicates that despite strong criticisms against the traditional practices by religious institutions, NGOs and government policies, these practices are still evident in Ankore families. With the contradictions in religious criticisms against traditional practices, converted husbands have either observed Christian life and abandoned their extramarital families or they have continued the relationships with their wives and abandoned religious teachings, or they have combined the two (Kasenene, 1993; Tiberondwa, 1998). Moreover, clandestine extramarital relations, as a form of polygamy, have persisted to disadvantage women further in Ankore marital and family relations (Kiggundu & Walusimbi, 2013; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010).

(2) Considering women’s educational attainment and their empowerment, my discussion indicates that with education policy and strategies for gender parity since 1997, Uganda has had gender parity with respect to primary enrollment of 49.9 percent for girls and 50.1 percent for boys. However, urban schools registered higher percentages (78 percent) of school-going age than rural areas (69 percent), and the net total enrollment for girls at 67 percent remained lower than that of boys at 73 percent countrywide. Besides, while enrollment at the primary level continues to increase, there has remained a significant dropout rate, causing the enrollment of boys at the secondary and tertiary levels to remain higher than that of girls (The Republic of Uganda, 2012a). Therefore, with the tertiary education enrollment female to male ratio registered at 0:62 and a Gender Inequality Index of 0.557, with Uganda positioned at 116th out of the 146 participating countries, my study points to the conclusion that although figures related to women’s empowerment have continued to improve, the gender gap is still large and Uganda’s women’s empowerment vision is still farfetched. Moreover, whereas educational attainment has improved the social lives of women in terms of employment opportunities, increased incomes, contributions to households’ well-being and health awareness, gender relations in decision- making have not equally been achieved (Index Mundi, 2013; Kagoda, 2011;

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 75

The Republic of Uganda, 2012a). Similarly, the existing literature indicates that while women’s deliveries of babies in health facilities increased from 33 percent in 2009/2010 to 42 percent in 2010/2011 (UNDP, 2011b), hence reducing maternal mortality rates from 430 per 100,000 women in 2010/2011 to 310 (Index Mundi, 2013; Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2012), it has remained a means to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. My study concludes that although the numbers and levels of women’s educational attainment have improved and child and maternal mortality rates have decreased, the impossibility of improving the Gender Inequality Index of the country and reducing the escalating rates of domestic violence (Okwii, 2013; The Republic of Uganda, 2012a; Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2006, 2012; Wikigender, 2012) is an indication of a lack of women’s empowerment in Uganda.

(3) In reference to women’s economic empowerment, my discussion indicates an increasing number of women engaged in income-generating activities, with an increase in government financial statistics and revenue collections by 40.7 percent from 5,182.6 billion Uganda Shillings (UShs) in financial year 2009/2010 to 7,292.5 billion UShs in financial year 2010/2011 (The Republic of Uganda, 2012b). Similarly, the banking and currency sector registered an increment of 50 percent between June 2010 and June 2011 (The Republic of Uganda, 2012b; Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2012). However, despite women’s high economic opportunity index of 97/113, Uganda still has a high Gender Inequality Index, as mentioned earlier (UNDP, 2011b; Wikigender, 2012). And the country’s gender equity index of 61/157 and a score of 0.7220 is still low, with Uganda ranked 29th out of 135 countries for which the data is available (UNDP, 2011b, 2011c; Wikigender, 2012). Moreover, although the employment opportunity of women and the country’s economic achievement have improved, the Gender Inequality Index in relation to domestic violence rates given at the household level in Uganda has not decreased. The conclusion of my study has to be that women’s economic contribution to national or family wealth has not guaranteed their equality with men at the household level.

(4) From my discussion of women’s political representation in parliamentary seats and positions of policy and decision-making, Uganda shows a steady increase in statistical figures, though not necessarily towards gender equality attainment

76 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at household level in the use, control and ownership of family resources. With the NGOs coordi- nating women’s associations and with the implementation of the affirmative action of a quota system, Uganda’s 9th Parliament (2011-2015) features 34.4 percent women parliamentarians and a woman speaker of Parliament (2011- 2015), having had a woman vice-president (1994-2003). However, the number of women that compete with men in the general elections has remained low, an indication that women have not yet broken through the barriers to compete favorably with men for political and policy-making positions in Uganda (Kadaga, 2013). Moreover, although Uganda has enacted several laws, their implementation has remained difficult, and attaining gender equality remains a challenge due to, among other things, women’s insufficient information on their rights, cultural values through community influence and social pressure, costs involved and inefficiency in legal procedures (Kafumbe, 2009; L. Ndagire, 2013; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010).

More generally, I conclude that, although the number of women with education above the primary and secondary levels has improved and the number of women engaged in income-generating activities has increased to improve household incomes and national budgets, and although the participation of women in politics and policy positions in Uganda has been increasing since the NRM implementation of affirmative action, women’s empowerment through reduced gender inequality gaps in decision-making possibilities regarding the use, control and ownership of family resources has not been attained. Examining the enabling strategies for women’s empowerment, which have been noted as mechanisms to increase the number of women in the empowerment strategy sectors, I also conclude that the concept of women’s empowerment remains a means to serve other goals of development but has not been attained as a goal in itself (i.e., to improve married women’s decision-making possibilities regarding the use, control and ownership of family resources relative to their husbands at the family level). This chapter further reveals shortfalls in the theoretical evaluation of empowerment, which is largely based on Western literature and approaches. Methodologically, most of the examined sources on women’s empowerment were obtained through survey research based on international or national universal standards and procedures with analytical statistical outcomes, whereas other sources are principally ethnographic with some elements of “mixed methods”. With the complexity of women’s empowerment measures and changes in cultural and human relations in general, a single method and approach may provide findings that are superficial and are hiding the reality in

Gender inequality and women’s empowerment in Uganda 77 gender relations. Therefore, cross-examination of ethnographic and survey methods is applied in this study to reduce the shortfalls of each method and to arrive at a broader picture and assessment of women’s empowerment at the household level (Blommaert & Van de Vijver, 2013). In terms of context, this chapter includes literature on the position of women in traditional Ankore families. Existing literature largely ignores the influence of cultural diversity, historical experiences and socio-economic differences on women’s empowerment strategies. Although there are similarities in women’s inequality, neglecting contextual differences conceals realities and facts on the ground that may affect women’s empowerment processes and results from different perspectives. Besides, most of the government surveys are intended for general information about the whole country and do not give specific details of specific areas. This study therefore is specifically focusing on the contributions of women’s empowerment strategies in Ankore families. In doing so, I specifically focus on the empowerment of married women in Ankore families, using a combination of survey and ethnographic methods not only for complementary purposes, but also to bring out my participants’ own life realities and experiences. This study contextualizes the urban or rural location of the participants, their education levels, income standards, and awareness and choice of institutions in family conflict resolution. Against this background, women’s empowerment measures are indicated in terms of decision-making on family resource use, control and ownership.

CHAPTER 3 Methodology

3.1 Introduction

This chapter describes the methods that were used in my study. Ankore family relations are complex, involving a variety of stakeholders, including married women and men, separated women, key elders notable for their knowledge and life experiences and representatives of institutions that deal with the protection of families. Besides, married women themselves are not a homogenous group. For my study, therefore, different categories of married women were included depending on their differences in localities and the empowerment activities they are engaged in. Consequently, getting information from these various categories of people in relation to my research subject, i.e., the position of married women in decision-making in the family, also required several different methods and instruments. Obviously, there is no single person who holds the truth on behalf of all Ankore people and who has all the accurate oral historical information and perception on the position of women from pre-colonial traditional Ankore families to date. Moreover, different people voice different opinions and stand- points on the position of women even when they belong to the same locality and generation. Therefore, to obtain accurate information, I used similar questions to interview married and separated women and to guide the Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) that I conducted. These were triangulated with oral data of the elderly people interviewed. Such an approach was not only useful for generating information for my study but also provided for exciting sharing and learning moments for the researchers and the researched alike, as well as nostalgic moments for the elderly participants consulted. I will now describe each method and how it was conducted.

80 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

3.2 Mixed methods

My study deploys a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods in an integrated research design. While the purpose of combining methods is partly to overcome the loopholes in using only one approach, it is also out of respect for the voices of the participants: While qualitative methodologies take care of participants’ own views and opinions on the studied issues, quantitative methodologies could possibly cover more representation of the entire population. So, rather than having the two methodological approaches contradict each other, they both strengthen and complement each other, albeit with slightly different perspectives and capacities (Blommaert & Van de Vijver, 2013). However, as Blommaert and Van de Vijver (2013, p. 7) argue, “Represen- tativeness does not in itself constitute valid theory; rather it indicates the existence of the theory […] the theory itself demands validity and its proof requires representativeness. Therefore, the only way to achieve this validity is to apply both ethnographic and survey approaches in their complementary manner.” Furthermore, Flick (2008) emphasizes that mixed approaches give results more grounding, while Swanborn (2010) explains that the mixing of methods brings out a studied phenomenon “in its width” (i.e., quantitatively to estimate univariate and multivariate frequency distribution) and qualitatively “in its depth” (by analyzing language, perspectives, behavior of people, interpretations). Finally, Blommaert and Van de Vijver (2013) convincingly argue that whereas one approach is good, in actual research practice “good is not good enough.” It is worth noting that although married women in Ankore are my focus and unit of analysis, considering the complexity of human nature and family relations, I needed several categories of people to have more contextual information. Thus, other relevant participants in my study include married men, separated or divorced women, elderly key informants (men and women) and leaders of selected institutions that handle family relations issues. Similarly, since women’s empowerment may affect people differently depending on the location of the participants (urban or rural), the empowerment project they are engaged in (self-employed, private or civil services) or their background (pastoralist or agriculturalist), these aspects of Ankore cultural activities were also considered. With such complex and social family systems, the diverse categories of people were able to participate through different methods that were found ideal for them (as will be explained later) to determine the changes that could have happened as a consequence of the implemented empowerment strategies.

Methodology 81

Moreover, to generate convincing and determinant findings, Tashkkori and Teddlie suggest that “mixed methods are utilized in order to gain complementary views about the same phenomenon […], to obtain a complete picture of the phenomenon […], to explain the understanding obtained in a previous strand of study […], to assess the credibility of inferences [and] to compensate for the weaknesses of one approach by utilizing the other” (quoted from Swanborn, 2010, p. 143). Additionally, as Bryman (2004) explains, triangulation of methods enables the researcher to have more factual qualitative and quantitative findings, but also to save time by simultaneously collecting data from a large group of people while examining relations between variables and determining patterns of association. For example, in each visit to my selected study site, I was able to distribute questionnaires, conduct FGDs and do interviews while making observations. I integrate both quantitative and qualitative methods in an overarching ethnographic research framework, which I explain below.

3.3 Ethnographic approach: People’s own voices

The overarching framework of my study is ethnographic, and it is so for two reasons. First of all, I am a member of Ankore society myself and a married woman, mature of age. I am therefore deeply involved with the people I studied, and this is productively reflected in my knowledge and analysis of the data. Secondly, I interpret these data not from a deductive up-fronted theory but from local categories that do a much better job of explaining social reality as it has unfolded in the lives of my participants. Hymes (1998) emphasized a need to bring out people’s own voices to know realities on the ground and how people under study understand or interpret issues in their own context. In my case, from the ethnographic perspective, I consulted a variety of study participants, including married men and women, separated women, elderly key informants and representatives of institutions charged with the protection of women. I examined all the collected information in terms of content (what is said), who spoke the words and how, and where and under what circumstance the words were said, including the setting of the discussion or interviews (i.e., in the presence of the husband or other people, in privacy, at work or at home and during the FGDs), as all these issues have implications on the type of the data that is given. In so doing, my thesis creates the possibility to make audible the voices of married women in Ankore families.

82 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

The participants’ own voices reveal how families in Ankore themselves make sense of women’s empowerment mechanisms and how they see the implications for the position of women in decision-making possibilities with regard to resources use, control and ownership relative to their husbands at the household level. According to Hymes (1964), using people’s own voices is the factual way of revealing people’s take on the researched issues. For instance, in my case the decision-making possibilities, persistent or changed inequalities, power relations and conflicts, are all explained and illustrated by the responses my participants themselves gave about the issue. Both the quantitative and the qualitative methods used are integrally part of that descriptive and explanatory ethnographic framework.

3.4 Field sites, participants and methods of participation

According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (2006) report, the study area had 21 counties (as of 2006, at the beginning of data collection). Twelve fieldwork sites or villages were purposively selected from these counties (see Table 3.1). I selected fieldwork sites depending on either their proximity to urban centers or their deep rural settings. The urban centers are assumed to offer women more opportunities for engagement in out-of-home activities and high incidences of education facilities. Additionally, families in urban centers are assumed to be more detached from traditional practices, and they are usually considered to have little or no influence from societal and family pressures (The Republic of Uganda, 2010). With such beliefs the likelihood of urban families to embrace women’s empowerment and women’s possibilities of decision-making at the household level are expected to be higher than those of families in rural areas. The rural families, on the other hand, are assumed to present limited opportunities and engagement in out-of-home activities and less incidences of education opportunities, high incidences of early marriages, less awareness of their human rights and more attachment to traditional practices, and they are generally believed to be influenced by societal and extended family pressures (The Republic of Uganda, 2010). With such thinking, therefore, it seems likely that families in rural settings would resist women’s decision-making attempts at the household level due to the influence of traditional practices. Therefore, location (rural or urban) and traditional activities (dairy by pastoralists or crop farming by agriculturalists) are my purposive guiding principles in selecting the study sites shown in Table 3.1.

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Table 3.1 Field sites selected for the study District Selected sites Location type Bushenyi Bugomora in Ishaka-Bushenyi town council Urban Nsika in Buhweju Rural Kyambura in Bunyaruguru Rural Mbarara Rubaya in Kashari Rural Kakoba division Urban Isingiro Kabare in Masha Semi-urban Murema in Bukanga Rural Ibanda Nyabuhikye Rural Kiruhura Buremba in Nyabushozi Rural Ntungamo Rushenyi in Ruhama Rural Butega-Ihunga in Kajara Rural

The number of sites and participants per district differ, as these were determined by the area size of the districts, whether or not they came from an urban or rural environment and their traditional livelihood activities, being either pastoralists or agriculturalists. Married women and families in the bigger towns of Mbarara and Bushenyi districts filled in the required number of married women with the considered selection criteria, namely educational attainment, income-generating activities, participation in policy and decision- making positions and the existence of institutions charged with women’s protection. Through the Mbarara archdiocese women’s desk, of which I am a member of the governing board, I already had contacts with women’s groups in the area of study that had previously invited me to facilitate their workshops, specifically in Bushenyi, Isingiro and Mbarara districts. The women’s groups therefore were my entry point to married women members and families. Once in the field, I used a snowball method to reach other women and families in different known existing women’s groups (based on the different activities, formation and differences in how the groups are supported, i.e., by the government, NGOs, religious organizations or self-help initiatives) and also those in activities that are run as family or individual projects in the area. Similarly, through the probation office, the police station, the Association of Women Lawyers in Uganda (FIDA (U)) and judicial family court sessions, I contacted separated women or married women in conflictual marital relations that were using these different services. They gave me their telephone contacts and addresses for further interactions. With the snowball method, these women

84 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level connected me to other women or families in a similar situation for conducting an interview. Furthermore, I made prior visits to the study sites, where I contacted and involved chairpersons or committee members of Local Council 118 for permission, but also to obtain contacts in order to reach households or families in the area known to have stable and unstable relationships. From the list created, I decided on how to include them in the study, either through interviews, FGDs or responding to questionnaires, and how many participants I wanted for each activity. The decision was guided by my respondents’ convenience: whether the wife or husband was able to read and write and to complete the questionnaire on their own, although in some case I or my research assistants (three senior lecturers, two men and a woman (all married), and three third-year students from the Faculty of Development Studies of Mbarara University of Science and Technology) completed the questionnaires on their behalf. Another consideration was the convenience of the methods to the participants in relation to their work schedule or project activities. For instance, some married women preferred to be interviewed, as this method conveniently allowed them to continue with their project’s work schedule. As such, the approach gave me an opportunity to observe and verify what was being explained in the natural environment. Other selected married men and women who were willing and able to give more time to my study offered to attend FGDs. Moreover, FGDs took almost a whole day, as I conducted them in a participatory learning manner, as I explain later, so that the respondents also benefitted from the discussions. Besides all these, I also got an entry path to selected sites from pastoralist inhabitants in Ankore. Likewise, in every field study site, I asked the people in the area for known elderly people who were considered or perceived as highly knowledgeable concerning family relations issues. I selected the names given most frequently by the people in the area as key informants for my study, and with the same snowball method I got several other key informants.

There are 660 participants who were involved in my study through different methodological approaches, as indicated in Table 3.2.

18 See Chapter 2 footnote 9 for an explanation.

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Table 3.2 Participants, methods of participation, location and activities engaged in Respondent Form of Location and activity engaged in N category participation Married Questionnaire Rural: Sale (of clothes, drinks, foods), poultry, 80 women/men zero grazing of cows, goats and piggery Politicians and people in civil services 40 (teaching, nursing, secretaries, police, field officers for government/ NGOs, etc.) Urban: Sale of clothes, drinks, foods in stalls 80 and markets, hotel, shop keeping, saloons, tailoring, nursery tree growing Politicians and formal employment (teachers, 40 doctors, lawyers, nurses, administration, bank, engineers, police, etc.) Married Interview Same as above but with different people 240 women Married FGD Same as above but with different people 110 women/men Separated Questionnaire/ Same as above 20 women interview Key Interview Elderly/old people, mostly retired 30 informants women/men Leaders of Questionnaire/ Courts of law, police, religious, herbalists 20 institutions interview women/men Total 660

Table 3.2 indicates that some income-generating activities, for instance farming, are common among women in rural areas, while sales of items such as clothes, drinks, cooked food and saloon services tend to be conducted in both rural and urban places, though in different capacities. This is why the selected number of participants engaged in these activities is the same in every particular study site (rural or urban). The table also shows the variety of methods that were used.

86 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

3.5 Quantitative methods

As the starting point in my study was the design of a questionnaire, I will start with the description of the quantitative method. Taking into account the several stakeholders involved, I developed three different sets of questionnaires, i.e., one for married people (men and women), one for separated women and one for leaders of institutions that deal with women’s protection. Starting from the topical areas of women’s empowerment strategies, namely educational attainment, income, inclusion in policy and political decision-making positions and use of institutions aimed at resolving marital and family problems, I developed concepts for research questions. I focused on these topical issues but posed the questions in slightly different ways to the three different stakeholder groups to capture several views and opinions in relation to my study object. Some of the key topical concepts of empowerment indicators are captured in the respondents’ bio-data, such as their level of attained education, form of employment, income and decision-making processes revolving around how and which family resources are used, controlled and owned. Since empowerment of women aims at the elimination of all that is assumed to cause gender inequality and discrimination, especially in traditional family practices, I included questions on marriage practices and mechanisms of conflict resolution to explore the changes and resilience of the family system in order to determine the success of women’s empowerment. The first set of questionnaires dealt with married women and men. It was designed to cover topical themes of family relations and more specifically attained education, income and contributions to family resources (their use, control and ownership), type of marriage that they are engaged in and methods of conflict resolution for women’s protection. Here it is important to note that although my study is largely based on qualitative methods, the guiding questions for interviews and FGDs were derived from this first set of questions for married people. In other words, the questionnaire itself was basically used as the interview guide for the married women, although some additional questions developed in the process of interviewing and arose out of the discussions. The second set of questionnaires focused on the separated or divorced women. It was designed to capture their life experiences before and after exiting marital and family relations, as well as the mechanisms they had applied for conflict resolution and advice they would give to married women. The third set of questionnaires aimed at getting heads of institutions that handle marital and family conflicts to share their insights on rates and causes of family conflicts, categories of people that consult their institutions and how they rate their own performances in family conflict resolution, including the

Methodology 87 protection of married women. Although there are three questionnaires, the unit of analysis and focus in all three remains married women in Ankore families. All three questionnaires contained open-ended questions that allowed the respondents to freely unpack their views in the blank spaces provided. Similar- ly, open-ended questions helped to reveal personal views on social, economic and cultural factors, as different people hold different opinions in relation to the topics of research. Other parts of the questionnaire contained closed questions with a suggested range of answers to control and confine the responses in the expected variety. Questions with checklists were also included to allow respondents to indicate several responses that fit their concerns. Questions regarding agreement or disagreement were given to help quantify respondent’s opinions and attitudes. As such, I had the opportunity of collecting both quantitative and qualitative responses from the questionnaires. Some of the questionnaires were given out to respondents by research assistants and others by me. Those questionnaires that were issued to leaders of institutions and civil servants were collected after a week. In particular cases such as the office of the Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA (U)) and police and magistrates charged with family relations, I personally collected the questionnaires in order to interview these respondents for additional referential information from their shared experiences. Similarly, I personally collected the questionnaires that were given to separated or divorced women in order to interview them for more information on their life experiences, especially after exiting the married relationship. Two separate social anthropologists and my initial supervisor were consulted to review the set of questions to ensure meaning, accuracy and rele- vance. They also assisted me in translating the questions from English into Runyankore, which helped to maintain similar meanings in both versions of the questions. From the approved questionnaires, it was easy for me to develop guiding topical questions or themes that led me in conducting FGDs and in- depth interviews. As my study deals directly with human social life, I successfully presented my proposal and research tools to the Institutional Review Board of Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) for ethical considerations and approval on behalf of the National Council for Higher Education. I applied the approved questionnaire between 2006 and 2009 for field data collection while I was still admitted and registered with MUST before transferring my admission to Tilburg University in July 2013. In preparation for data collection, I had a day to induct or train my 6 research assistants (3 lecturers and 3 third-year students) in using the questionnaire and conducting interviews, FGDs and

88 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level observations. We went through the questionnaires for their understanding and use in preparation for testing the questions. For validity purposes, a pre-test of the questions was done on the four categories of participants (one in an urban private enterprise, two in a rural home setup of omwiru and omuhima background and one in civil service) before the instrument was used with other respondents. To test the reliability of the questions, the same questionnaire was pre-tested on two categories of urban and rural respondents, namely 10 couples in Mbarara municipality and 10 in Kamubeizi, a rural village in Isingiro district. The results from both tested groups indicated that out of 19 set questions, 16 questions were understood in a similar, consistent manner by respondents giving the same responses. In this context, I want to note that the Content of Validity Index (CVI) considers correlation coefficients exceeding 0.75 to 0.80 as indicative of high reliability in terms of consistency of a measurement (Gaile & Foster, 1996). In the case of my study the CVI is 84 percent reliable. The required adjustments on questions that did not get consistent responses were made before the questionnaires were put to use. Considering my full-time university work schedule and the small budget available, I applied the survey tool (questionnaire) and qualitative methods simultaneously in each field site but with different categories of people, as illustrated in Table 3.2. Through the women’s group network, I obtained 12 study sites (as indicated in Table 3.1) and also sampled families and made appointments with them to complete the questionnaires. The chairperson or members of Local Council 1 of the selected field sites were requested to guide my research team in their areas to reach the selected families that completed the questionnaires. The research team spent two days in each field site. On the first day of our arrival, together with my research team, we gave out 32 questionnaires per field site (see Table 3.1), which we collected the following evening after the FGDs or which were collected the next day by the student research assistants while we (three lecturers and I) conducted interviews with the selected married women. It is important to note that while the questionnaires’ distribution was easy, their recovery turned out to be a problem. This can be attributed to the literacy levels and the limited awareness of the importance of research. As a consequence in such circumstances, some questions were skipped either intentionally or accidentally, and moreover, I only realized some of the gaps in some questionnaires during a sorting exercise, when I had already left the field. Additionally, while several respondents waited for research assistants to fill out the questionnaire on their behalf, others were poorly filled out with several

Methodology 89 questions unanswered and others had not been filled out at all. Consequently, there was only a 50 percent recovery of questionnaires that were properly completed and could be put to use. Despite the challenges in its implementation, the use of questionnaires enabled the quantification of respondents’ data, the examination of the frequency distribution of responses and the presentation of field information in tables, graphs and charts. As such, the findings became relatively easy to interpret. One clear lesson learned from this study is that most people in the area being studied did not give the appropriate time and attention to filling out the questionnaire. Additionally, most people needed assistance in filling out the questionnaire, which may have influenced the responses being given and hence is a justifiable reason for mixed approach methods. Oral information remains a popular and dominant mode of communication, one that is attuned to the cultural folktales, stories, proverbs or shared experiences and serves the interests of several people and at many levels in most African countries, rather than “alien paperwork”. Their enthusiasm and the popularity of orality were explicitly evident during the FGDs and interviews. After data collection, I sorted the completed questionnaires, eliminating those that had heavily skipped sections. In the end, I had 240 questionnaires from married people, 20 from separated or divorced women and 20 from institutional leaders. After coding the questionnaires, Microsoft Excel was used to quantify the responses of closed-ended questions into percentages and SPSS to analyze the data and visualize them in tables for discussions and explanations. The quantitative outcomes of the questionnaire are supported by the shared experiences and stories through interviews and FGDs. Additionally, since the questionnaires had open-ended questions, the written responses could also be used as additional referential and illustrative field information.

3.6 Qualitative methods

In order to bring out the opinions and voices of the participants, we (i.e., the members of the research team) engaged 240 married women, 30 key informants (elderly men and women), 20 separated or divorced women and 20 leaders of institutions in in-depth interviews, listening and taking notes. Additionally, there were 110 participants of Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). The interviews and FGDs were conducted between 2006 and 2009. As recommended by various authors, studies of socio-cultural behavior largely adopt a qualitative methodology, not only for reasons of complexity, including multi-dimensional, interpretive and naturalistic approaches, but also

90 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level to bring out local epistemologies and life-worlds (Bryman, 2004; Creswell, 2012; Flick, 2008). Indeed, Creswell (2012) explains that qualitative research brings out a variety of issues, namely personal experiences, interpretations of given information as known by participants, perception, attitudes and observation of behaviors, which give enormous analytical difficulties when quantified. As already explained, being Ankore myself and thus familiar with the Ankore family system, I was able to understand the given information and to place it in its appropriate context. I was able to interpret my participants’ perceptions, attitudes and observable behaviors, which did not need to be quantified. Being married, mature in age and familiar with the Ankore people, their cultural practices, family systems and language, gave me and my assistants an additional advantage. For instance, the participants, especially the married women, saw me as “an insider” or one of them and were not doubtful of my social integrity. In Ankore, it is highly criticized, expressed verbatim as okufa omutima (having a dead or foolish heart), to open up family plights unwisely without discernment to strangers (Butamanya, 1992). The belief is that this may worsen the issues by making them public. Besides, the home and work visits kept the interviewees in their homes or employment areas and in their natural conditions, and in most cases they continued with their routine activities during the interview. Much of the traditional information was captured through oral history, with elderly key informants narrating it as they, too, had heard it from their pre- decessors. The responses obtained in the form of explanations, references, stories, ideas and opinions, i.e., the “voices of elderly interviewees”, are not recorded anywhere, but I have made extensive field notes of them. Additional traditional information was obtained through FGDs as shared stories, and the field notes were supplemented with existing written literature, especially Karwemera (1994) and Mubangizi (1963). Although its design is not longitudinal, my study explores and examines the position of women through generations. As such, it includes positional knowledge from pre-colonial, traditional Ankore family relations, through the colonial days and independence into the current situation (after 1986) of women’s empowerment. Arguably, it is not enough to study the current socio- economic and political circumstances that affect women in gender and family relations without knowing the traditional context and what families have gone through to become what they are now. Moreover, Kasenene (1993, p. 1) explains that we are a product of lives before us and part of a chain of biological, cultural and social continuity that carries the past, through the present, into the future. That being so, in order to understand the dynamic forces at play within

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Ankore families today, a flashback into the past from historical and cultural traditional perspectives on the changing position of women in relation to women’s empowerment was crucial. Because of the interactional nature of my qualitative approach, it tends to capture participant’s interests and attention as a “social activity”. This materialized in the rates of participants’ turnout for FGDs and their levels of engagement during the discussions. Additionally, the participants looked at such discussions as learning and solution-finding processes to their life challenges. It also helped me to collect truthful information, especially with individual home visit interviews, where married women in their homes were not influenced by other’s responses. As such, I was able to bring out different explanations and opinions from different people. Furthermore, home visit interviews offered an opportunity to observe and confirm what was being said as gains from women’s empowerment strategies, particularly IGAs in rural families.

3.6.1 Focus group discussions As already noted, the research team normally arrived at the selected field study sites in the afternoon and, through the contact persons, together with research assistants, went to the selected families for questionnaire distribution and also to confirm with them for home interviews the next day. In the evenings at our hired premises, we shared responsibilities among the 3 lecturers in the research team and agreed on FGD procedures, having a lecturer as a lead facilitator in each group of 8 to 10 but sometimes up to 12 participants, and a student research assistant taking notes in each group. My target was to have more women than men in general, but in most cases, I got equal or slightly less women than men, except in home visits or places of employment where I interviewed married women. The explanation given to me was that the two people could not leave the home at the same time and the “out-of-home” activities are normally attended by men. Furthermore, some of the selected women had sudden household or domestic commitments and therefore could not make it to the omushomo gw’ebyamaka (study of family), as the study participants usually referred to my study. I usually got overwhelming numbers of participants who simply wanted to learn how to solve family problems. That explains the formation of three or more FGD groups and the use of plenary presentation sessions. The plenary presentations met all the criteria of the FGD approach while also fulfilling a social responsibility of giving back information to the participants and to the community as a whole, to which they have contributed and of which they are

92 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level the beneficiaries (Van der Aa, 2012). Additionally, it confirmed the participants’ and the community’s demand to conduct more studies on gender and family relations or to rethink women’s empowerment at the household level. As soon as participants arrived, we divided them into groups: one for men only, the second for women only and the third or others with mixed gender composition. Usually, we sat outside in the booked school compounds or Local Council premises, except when the weather did not allow outside, free environment work. Before the participants were split into groups, I first made introductory remarks and explained the purpose of the study (specifically academic but also on how, together, we could improve marital and family relations in our homes). I would then give the program for the day and the activities to be done in the discussion sessions. In their separate groups, participants selected among themselves a secretary who made notes of the discussions, using flip charts, to present in the plenary sessions set for the afternoons. My role was to coordinate the three groups to keep to the topical questions, since in some cases the participants’ stories and shared experiences tended to divert the group’s attention to focus on particular cases of families that were referred to. As the FGDs took the whole day, I normally organized meals and transport refunds for the invited participants. I also sometimes gave material items (sugar, bread or soap) or financial contributions to my in-depth interviewees during the home visits. The main outcome of the FGDs was field notes: data of people in Ankore families talking and airing their views on women’s empowerment and the position of women in decision-making. The field notes in general tried to capture people’s own voices as opinions on particular issues of women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level in Ankore families. In some cases, short phrases or words are kept in vernacular to emphasize feelings, attitudes or perceptions that cannot equally be portrayed and expressed in English to reveal the exact intended meaning. In other instances, full stories, phrases and personal experiences that were shared are written first in Runyankore, the way they were narrated to me, and then translated into English for those who are not vernacular users to understand the text. Inevitably, since I had to write my thesis in English, I translated the field notes from the Ankore language into English, but I tried as much as possible to maintain the original opinion of the study participants. The discussion of the results in Chapters 4 to 6 is basically a topical analysis of the FGD field notes in combination with other information obtained through quantitative and qualitative methods.

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3.6.2 Interviews The main categories of participants interviewed were the 240 married women and the 30 elderly men and women, whom I encountered in their homes or their place of work. As already mentioned, the same questionnaire served as the guide for the married interviewees and FGDs, although some discussions could lead to other probing questions for detailed information beyond the questions in the designed questionnaire. Through the women’s group network, I had already contacted the selected families and made appointments with them for the interviews. The topic being sensitive, only the assisting senior lecturers (two men and a woman, also advanced in age) were guided by the chairperson or members of Local Council 1 to the selected 20 families, usually on the second and last day of every visit of the rural study site (see Table 3.1). I personally interviewed married women in the urban activities and employment sectors, as most of them were booked at different times that fit their work schedule. The selected urban places being near my work and birthplace, it was easy to frequent and interview them myself by appointment. The same thing applied to the elderly interviewees who were selected from different regions of the study and via the snowball method. I interviewed them myself, accompanied by one of the assisting lecturers to take field notes or to engage in the discussions. As mentioned earlier, other interviewees of this study include the 20 separated women and the 30 leaders of institutions that deal with family and women’s protection. Although the individual interviews were time-consuming and people tended to talk endlessly, especially the elderly people and those obsessed or taken up by the topical issues, it is worth noting that the natural environment offered an opportunity to collect a variety of free and complex answers that are usually hidden from public sharing. It also gave introverted participants space and opportunity to freely air their views that would otherwise be suppressed by dominating, extroverted participants in group discussions. Moreover, listening to each individual’s opinions, personal experiences and stories resulted in probing further to generate more information than expected beyond the guiding questions. While there are two language versions of the questionnaire and therefore of the interview guides, the interviews were conducted in Runyankore. However, some participants mixed this with English. The use of Runyankore facilitated the participants to express their views and ideas the way they perceive and understand them. The interview outcomes in the form of shared life experiences had a twofold purpose. They first of all conveyed participants’ perceptions and views about

94 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level women’s empowerment and decision-making possibilities in their own voices. Secondly, the participants’ shared experiences also contained patterned implicit information, particularly in the full stories that were told. As has been said, the data contain a mixture of English and Runyankore. In Chapters 4 to 6 in some instances the whole story is quoted in the original Runyankore language (with English translation). Additionally, people in Ankore, especially the elders, use a lot of proverbs in the form of analogies holding implicit information that symbolically summarizes the intended message in relation to certain societal values. These also are mainly quoted in Runyankore (with English translation).

3.6.3 Observations During the home visits and face-to-face interviews, I saw projects and activities that were carried out by married women and/or their family members. It was possible to see the purchased assets mentioned in the interviews and to see previous homesteads and improved environments. I had made a checklist to guide the observable body language as interviewees explained or shared their experiences, including, for instance, gestures of assertiveness, fright, shyness, timidity, confidence, excitement, disappointment with fallen shoulders or joy with self-esteem. Similarly, through tones of voice and facial expressions, we could notice happiness or unhappiness. We could also differentiate com- manding, directing and consultative languages, especially when the married couple was together in the home or place of work. My personal interpretations of what was observed and written served as a source of reference and supportive information for the research objectives. Similarly, during the FGDs, I also observed women’s behavior in their separate groups (the women only and mixed gender composition groups). The intention of such group compositions was to create an atmosphere that would generate free discussions among the single gender groups, but also to observe women’s “empowered” behaviors in their participation, especially with the mixed groups. During the home and workplace face-to-face interviews, we saw the projects and activities that were carried out by married women and/or their family members. We saw and confirmed women’s tangible and implicit achievements as outcomes of women’s empowerment strategies. For easy use of the collected field data obtained from the questionnaire, the FGDs and the interviews, I arranged the entire collected field data obtained from the different study sites according to the study’s topical areas of empowerment strategies (education attainment, increasing women’s incomes, participation in policy and political decision-making and systems of family conflict resolutions), in relation to women’s decision-making at the household

Methodology 95 level. During the writing of the results in Chapters 4 to 6, I knew which section of the field notes to refer to. I simply translated participants’ own words from Runyankore into English and gave voice to their inward views. However, for illustrations, references or emphasis and where the English translation is not necessarily the equivalent of the meaning behind the given message, I left the wordings in their vernacular form.

3.7 Setup of results chapters: Topical analysis

In evaluating Ankore married women’s position in decision-making relative to their husbands’ as a form of empowerment, my study is guided by the implemented empowerment strategies, namely: improving women’s education, improving women’s incomes, improving women’s involvement in policy and political positions of decision-making and having institutions of family conflict resolution and protection of women. As already discussed in Chapter 1 and 2, these empowerment strategies are in reference to the objectives of the four international women’s conferences (Mexico 1975, Copenhagen 1980, Nairobi 1985 and Beijing 1995), whose goal was to promote gender equality and women’s rights as a way of eliminating all forms of gender discrimination (UN General Assembly 1979). Therefore, the field outcomes are analyzed in reference to the topics that appear to fit best. In other words, the questionnaires’ and interviews’ quantitative and qualitative referential information and the FGDs’ notes and observations’ interpretive findings are attached to particular topical strategies of women’s empowerment, where they are relevant and functional.

CHAPTER 4 Women’s position in changing marriage practices

4.1 Introduction

The objectives of the World Conferences on Women (in Mexico 1975, Copenhagen 1980, Nairobi 1985 and Beijing 1995) were set to eliminate all forms of gender discrimination against women and to promote gender equality and women’s rights as part of a process of women’s empowerment (UN General Assembly, 1979; UNDP, 1995, 2012a). Similarly, the constitution of Uganda and the country’s Local Government Act are designed with respect to women’s empowerment and equality guidelines for the rule of law to take precedence over customary practices, especially in case of contradictions between the two (The Republic of Uganda, 1995, 1997; UN Women & UN Global Compact, 2011). Almost 30 years of implementation of women’s empowerment policies in Uganda has certainly led to changes regarding some of the traditional practices that are considered to be “oppressive” and “insensitive”.19 Moreover, the affirmative actions that were implemented in Uganda have been successful to some extent, as shown by the fact that the number of women in strategic educational, economic and political sectors and in policy-making positions has increased relative to men and relative to previous periods. The main purpose of this chapter is to examine whether “oppressive” and “insensitive” traditional practices in Ankore families have been done away with or whether they still exist. These traditional practices include male headship and hierarchical family structures, marriage practices (especially the giving and returning of enjugano) and polygamous relations. The chapter will also examine whether the increasing number of women employed in strategic

19 Oppressive and insensitive practices are understood as those practices (directly, subconsciously imparted or in the form of rituals) considered to be placing a woman secondary and subordinate to a man or depriving women of an opportunity to realize their full potential after what they have consciously or subconsciously gone through. 98 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level sectors related to empowerment has improved the general position of women in Ankore family relations. The guiding research question in this chapter is therefore whether traditional practices have been eliminated or changed and, consequently, whether this has led to a change in decision-making processes and to an improvement of the position of women in Ankore family relations. In a mixed qualitative and quantitative methods approach (see Chapter 3), this chapter presents data from a number of different sources: questionnaires with 240 married women and men (henceforth referred to as respondents), individual interviews with 30 key informants, both women and men (henceforth referred to as key informants), individual interviews with 20 leaders of institutions (courts of law, police, religion, etc.), individual interviews with 20 separated women (henceforth referred to as separated women interviewees), focus group interviews with 110 participants, both women and men (henceforth referred to as FGD participants), oral interviews with 240 married women (henceforth referred to as married women interviewees) and field notes and observations. In the following sections, I will present my findings in an integrated manner. By combining quantitative and qualitative data, i.e., frequencies and percentages on the one hand and experiences and stories on the other, I will try to bring out the voice of my subjects on their own terms and in their own context.

4.2 General characteristics of marriage practices

This section details a number of general characteristics of marriage practices in Ankore families in order to examine possible changes that could have happened in these practices and how these might have influenced the position of women relative to husbands. The characteristics discussed here include age and education level differences between spouses, the number of spouses, polygamous practices, family headship, the married couples’ place of residence and the number of children.

4.2.1 Age All key informants and FGD participants reported that, traditionally, men were expected to be older than their spouses. An exception would be the case of widow inheritance, where a younger man, if there were no older brothers in the family, would take his deceased brother’s widow as his wife. According to the key informants, another instance of a younger man marrying an older woman in order to prevent her from being taken away by other suitors could be if this

Women’s position in changing marriage practices 99 woman had special qualities and was admired by the husband’s family members. About 95 percent of the key informants and FGD participants, however, reported that widow inheritance is extinct. Almost 70 percent of the FGD participants reported that although the traditional way of parents choosing suitors for their children is dying out, matchmaking still exists on a rather large scale. This practice is also reported by 17.5 percent of the respondents (see Table 4.5) as well as in the shared experiences of the married women interviewees. According to almost 95 percent of the key informants and FGD participants, while it would raise gossip for an older woman to marry a younger spouse, there would be no cause for alarm if a man of 60 years and above married a girl (or girls) age 20 or below. In view of the impact that age differences between married spouses can have on decision-making processes, I wanted to find out the current situation regarding husbands’ and wives’ ages in Ankore families. I therefore asked the respondents to indicate the age of their husbands. The outcomes are presented in Table 4.1.

Table 4.1 Age differences (frequencies and percentages) Age X<=5 510 10=15 X>15 Total Group N % N % N % N % N % 15-24 8 6.84 10 8.55 3 2.65 1 0.85 22 18.80 25-54 27 23.08 35 29.91 16 13.68 16 13.68 94 80.34 55-64 1 0.85 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 1 0.85 Total 36 30.77 45 38.46 19 16.42 17 14.53 117 100.00

In Table 4.1 the husbands’ ages relative to their wives’ ages are reported in four categories (husbands up to 5 years older, between 5 and 10 years older, between 10 and 15 years older and more than 15 years older than their wives) and in three age groups (wives between 15 and 24, between 25 and 54 and between 55 and 64 years of age). The table only includes figures for the 117 husbands (out of a total number of 121) who are older than their wives. A first conclusion therefore has to be that 96.69 percent of the husbands are older than their wives. The majority (80.34 percent) can be found in the age group of 25 to 54 years of age and another 18.80 percent in the youngest age group (15 to 24 years). Within the age range of less than 5 to 15 years of age difference between husbands and wives, the majority of the husbands (69.23 percent) are between less than 5 and 10 years older than their wives, whereas about one third (30.77 percent) are between 10 and 15 years older than their wives.

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The constitutional marriageable age in Uganda is 18 years (The Republic of Uganda, 1995). Within the age group of 15 to 24 years, however, there are some spouses below the legal age of 18 (although I did not establish the exact number). Similarly, 30 percent of the (especially rural and non-educated) married women interviewees reported that they married before the age of 15, with their husbands being 2 to 5 years older. The practice of marriage below 18 years of age, in other words, still exists. The FGD participants explained that currently, due to the number of years spent in school and further career development, women tend to marry when they are about 25 years and above and as a consequence are at an age closer to that of their spouses. My field observations support the figures in Table 4.1, i.e., that the vast majority of husbands in Ankore families are older than their wives. Although the age difference between husbands and wives compared to traditional practices is certainly getting narrower (with only 14.53 percent of the husbands being more than 15 years older than their wives), I consider this outcome a reflection of the traditional norm still being dominant.

4.2.2 Level of education Education is considered one of the most important women’s empowerment strategies to create awareness, better employment opportunities and improved incomes, in order to overcome longstanding women’s discrimination and gender inequalities. In view of the possible impact of educational level on traditional marriage practices, I asked my respondents to indicate their level of education. The results in Table 4.2 present the respondents’ level of attained education.

Table 4.2 Education levels (frequencies and percentages) Level of education Women Men Total N % N % N % Tertiary education 70 47.30 78 52.70 148 61.66 Secondary education 20 42.55 27 57.45 47 19.60 Primary education 18 64.29 10 35.71 28 11.66 No formal education 11 64.70 6 35.30 17 7.08 Total 119 49.60 121 50.40 240 100.00

Table 4.2 shows that between 50 and 60 percent of the men have attained tertiary (diploma and degree levels) or secondary education as compared to between 40 and 50 percent of the women. The percentage of women, however,

Women’s position in changing marriage practices 101 who attained only primary education or no formal education at all is much higher (around 64 percent) than the men’s (around 35 percent). Irrespective of the rather narrow gender disparity gaps at the secondary and tertiary education level, it is also evident that too many women still get stuck at the primary education level or even receive no formal education at all. Although Table 4.2 indicates a still persistent boy-child preference in education, at the same time an attitude change towards the girl-child’s education and well-being can be observed. About 60 percent of the married women interviewees and FGD participants reported that the limited family resources to cater for the educational needs affect both boys and girls. Girls, however, they added, have additional needs (such as toiletries, sanitary towels and makeup) and face additional disruptive challenges such as unwanted pregnancies, early marriages and domestic chores of their families, which affect them at lower education levels and prevent them from moving up the educational ladder. The observed change of attitude towards the value attached to the girl-child in the family was confirmed by over 80 percent of the married women interviewees and FGD participants, with many referring to a common proverb, oyorora zoona, tomanya erahiigye (One caters for all the puppies because one never knows which of them will turn out to be the best hunter). It is important to note here that the responses in Table 4.2 do not reflect a wife/husband education level at the household level, but only indicate gender education disparities in general terms. Given the fact that 33 percent of the respondents in urban and rural contexts alike were purposively selected according to their engagement in economic empowerment activities including formal professional jobs as well as income-generating activities and projects (IGA/Ps), it might well be that the selection criteria have determined the education distribution levels as reported in Table 4.2. However, findings of other studies dealing with educational attainment in Uganda, as well as local and international reports, reveal a similar gap trend (Nambarirwa, 2010; The Republic of Uganda, 2012a; UNDP, 2011b). Finally it is worth noting that although the attained education level gap between men and women at the secondary and tertiary level is less broad than it used to be, this has not necessarily changed the traditional male headship and hierarchy in family relations, inheritance and property rights and decision-making processes in the home.

4.2.3 Polygamous practices Almost 95 percent of married women interviewees and FGD participants reported that men in Ankore families are potentially polygamists and that the traditions accept this. This finding is in line with the existing literature

102 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

(Butamanya, 1992; Mubangizi, 1963; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011). I therefore included a question in my survey inquiring the number of spouses in the families. The results are presented in Table 4.3. In view of the fact that Ankore families, as a consequence of migrations and interethnic marriages, are not necessarily exclusively Banyankore as far as their ethnicity is concerned, I decided to also include ethnicity in the table.

Table 4.3 Number of spouses and ethnicity (frequencies and percentages; S = Spouses; F = Female; M = Male; T = Total)

Banyankore Bakiga Baganda Banyarwanda Other Total S N % N % N % N % N % N % F 1 71 85.54 9 69.23 6 100.00 − − 5 100.00 91 85.05 2 12 14.46 3 23.08 − − − − − − 15 14.02 3 − − 1 7.69 − − − − − − 1 0.93 T 83 77.57 13 12.14 6 5.60 − − 5 4.67 107 100.00

M 1 71 92.21 25 92.59 7 100.00 2 100.00 − − 105 92.92 2 6 7.79 2 7.41 − − − − − − 8 7.08 3 − − − − − − − − − − − − T 77 68.14 27 68.14 7 6.19 2 1.76 − − 113 100.00

As can be seen in Table 4.3, the majority (77.57 percent out of 107 females and 68.14 percent out of 113 males) of the respondents reported that they were Banyankore, leaving only limited numbers of representation for the other ethnicities (below 25 percent). Table 4.3 furthermore shows that 85.05 percent of all women as compared to 92.92 percent of all men reported that they are in a monogamous family relationship. Only 14.95 percent of the women and 7.08 percent of the men reported that they are in a polygamous family relationship with mainly two and in one case three spouses. No striking differences between the various ethnicities could be observed. However, from my own observations and from the information shared in interviews with my key informants, separated women interviewees, married women interviewees and FGD participants, it can be concluded that traditional polygamous married life is in the process of being substituted by the practice of extramarital relationships. Almost 80 percent of the married women interviewees, urban and rural alike, revealed how their husbands diverted the revenues of their income-generating activities and spent family resources on issues unknown to them and/or to sustain women in extramarital relations.

Women’s position in changing marriage practices 103

Moreover, about 70 percent of married women interviewees who began by saying that they are in a monogamous family relationship later on in the course of the interviews either confirmed that they are aware of their husbands’ extramarital relationships or reported that they stay in their homes with their husbands’ children from extramarital relationships. Likewise, almost 70 percent of the married women interviewees reported that they heard rumors about their husbands having other women outside the home. Their husbands, however, when asked, deny such allegations. Similarly, almost 90 percent of the FGD participants said that men’s diverted attention from the family expenses as well as their behavior in financial control, use and decision-making point to a persistently high likelihood of polygamous relations in a different, clandestine form. In such circumstances, approximately 85 percent of the FGD participants argued that as long as women in extramarital relationships are not yet living in the marital home, the couple is assumed to be in a monogamous marital and family relationship. In order to make the practical sense of polygamous potentiality in Ankore family relations understandable, it might be helpful to report here that almost 80 percent of the FGD participants said that as long as a husband lives, a wife can never be sure whether she is in a monogamous or polygamous relationship. Likewise, some 40 percent of married women interviewees expressed the feeling that they are not sure that they are the only wives to their husbands, though they had not known any co-wife. The discrepancy between the basically monogamous family relationships as reported in Table 4.3 and the abundant proof of persistent polygamous family relationships, although in new forms, that was gathered through interviews as well as through my observations and my inside knowledge as an Ankore family member might lead to the conclusion that the survey question on the number of spouses could have been misunderstood to mean “how many known spouses that live together in the home.” It is, however, also possible that since about 84 percent of the families in Uganda are Christian (see Chapter 2), the 85.05 percent of wives and the 92.92 percent of husbands in Table 4.3 that indicated a monogamous relationship did so to hide the reality for the sake of Christian expected monogamous values and also to keep their family secrets and protect their integrity against public criticism. Nevertheless, from the given data, it can be concluded that although trade- tional polygamous marriage relations in the homes have decreased, they continue to exist in a different form as extramarital and cohabiting relations.

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4.2.4 Family headship Traditionally, the head of Ankore families is a man, and in practice the heir to his property is a male child. Although the constitution of Uganda (1995) emphasized the inclusion as heirs of the wife or wives and the children of the deceased, irrespective of their gender and the status of their mothers in the home, its implementation has remained a problem. Considering the implications of family headship for decision-making in family resources’ use, control and ownership, I assessed whether almost 30 years of implementation of women’s empowerment strategies’ have contributed to eliminating male headship and dominance according to the traditional norm. All respondents, irrespective of attained education, socio-political position and economic status, confirmed that it was the husband who was the head of the family. Similarly, when the women interviewees and FGD participants were asked who the head of the family was, they all mentioned that a man or husband is the head of the family (even where the married women mentioned that he did not necessarily provide basic necessities for the family). Several married women interviewees involved in income-generating activities or projects supported this feeling. One of them in a pronounced tone expressed it as follows: eehh … omushaija, n’omushaija, t’eka ye shi? or manya n’eka ye! (eehh … a man is a man, isn’t it his family? Or after all, it is his home!). A similar feeling was expressed throughout the FGDs, with the additional information that society refers to a built homestead in reference to a man as its head, irrespective of whether he is dead or alive. It was for instance mentioned that homesteads in Ankore language are commonly referred to as owa [X] nari ow’o mugyenzi [X] ([X]’s home or the late [X]’s home), even when the woman or the widow practically does everything to sustain the homestead or family needs. In line with this perception of family headship, one of the interviewed married women who is a lawyer and active in a policy-making position in the area of women’s empowerment, when asked on how she would advise women who press for women’s emancipation and equality with husbands in homes, explained that:

Women are expected to be submissive and respectful to their husbands. Personally, I believe being submissive is dutiful and a key to agreeable, peaceful and harmonized family relations. Therefore, failure to be compliant normally results in fights for power and family conflicts, which benefits nobody in the home, apart from worsening the circumstances of the struggling wife, who ends up as the loser of her marital home. So unless

Women’s position in changing marriage practices 105

women accept that a man is the head of the family, then a call for married women’s empowerment that inspires them to wrongly push for women’s emancipation will remain useless.

This educated and politically active married woman was targeted as a policy- maker. Rather than her personal professional views, which she shares at a national level, in the interview she maintains the traditional position of wives’ submissiveness and respectfulness to their husbands as duty-bound. She emphasizes that deviation has known worse consequences. Let me elaborate this a bit further. According to this interviewee, women are expected to be submissive and respectful (without specifying who expects this, whether as a policy or as a cultural norm). She gives her personal opinion as requested through the use of “personally” and presents women’s submissiveness as duty-bound for peace in the home, where “submissive” coincides with “dutiful”. Being a lawyer and active in a policy-making position, she uses strong legal wording like “failure to be compliant” or “loser of marital home”, which may not necessarily have legal implications in this case. It instead results in a “fight for power and family conflicts, worsening the circumstances of the struggling wife.” She even issues a warning against pushing women “unless women accept a man as head”, and as if condoning men’s actions or supporting them, she concludes that women’s fighting is useless. In the first part of her response there is a repetition of the key term “submissive”, explained in two different ways; then a storyline is built up in which the result of being “not compliant” with particular norms will make you “lose”. The “personally” in the second sentence is merely a rhetorical framing which mimics the question asked for a political and policy opinion, but which is synonymous to the interviewees’ personal opinion. So one wonders how such personal and political opinion can help to influence change and the perception of “oppressive” traditional norms and values in order to improve the position of a woman relative to her husband in family relations. All this taken together leads to the conclusion that the traditional perception and understanding of male headship and the secondary position of the wife in the family hierarchy, by men and women alike, has not changed, despite almost 30 years of implementation of women’s empowerment strategies’ and women’s contributions to their families’ well-being.

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4.2.5 Place of residence In this study, I also look at the place of residence of married couples to find out proximity to or distance from other family members and determine the degree to which in-laws’ demands and influences affect the married couples’ family relations. According to my key informants as well as the existing literature (Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011), Ankore families have a patrilocal practice, in which a woman relocates after marriage to reside or be part of her husband’s family residence. However, this does not mean that the matrilineal relatives (i.e., relatives on the woman’s side) have no degree of influence or interference regarding the couple’s life and family relations. According to my fieldwork observations and my married women interviewees, particularly in the rural areas, about 65 percent of the families live in the same village as the husband’s parents and in-laws. Additionally, about 25 percent reported that they live with their husband’s parents in the same compound or (in a few cases) the same house, while about 10 percent stated that they live very far from their in-laws, having migrated (okufuruka) to that residence, or they reside in urban places. Moreover, about 70 percent of the married women in professional careers and income-generating projects, especially in urban centers, reported that they live at a distance of about 50 to 100 or more kilometers away from the residence of their parents and in-laws. Nevertheless, almost 95 percent of these women and urban FGD participants reported that they have socio-economic allegiances to support their parents and relatives in these rural places. Moreover, about 10 percent of the married women interviewees stated that they live with their parents in their urban homes. Similarly, the urban FGD participants reported that most Ankore families still have strong kinship ties and connections to their parents and relatives, irrespective of different resident localities. Over 80 percent of the married women interviewees and urban and rural FGD participants reported such family attachment systems as having conflictual implications on the married couples’ own relations. It was further reported that when the married couple fails to meet the demands of the husbands’ parents and relatives, the blame is always put on the wives for being selfish and in control of their husbands. However, the conflicting interests were expressed more by families that lived together or that were in close range with their parents and relatives. The strong family kinship connections are evident and have remained a challenge to married women’s decision-making possibilities regarding the use, control and ownership of family resources to which they have contributed. My FGD participants explained that in such a closely networked Ankore family system, usually there is the likelihood of the parents and in-laws inter-

Women’s position in changing marriage practices 107 vening with and controlling the affairs of the married couple (sons or daughters in-law), who remain their children. Indeed, more that 60 percent of the married women interviewees mentioned that they experience unwanted or undue interventions, especially those in rural areas and those that live with or near their in-laws. Likewise, conflictual and undue intervention experiences were mentioned by almost 60 percent of the married women who were engaged in public space activities that consumed more of their time. They could not meet family expectations with regard to their domestic work as well as the married women interviewees in home-based projects who operated their activities within the family environment. However, about 50 percent of the married women interviewees who were working in rural projects carried out in their homesteads but living with their in-laws, especially the mothers-in-law, shared similar conflictual excessive control and interventions. For instance, about 50 percent of them reported that every sale they do in their projects and every visitor that comes to their homes during the absence of their husbands is reported by the mothers-in-law or relatives they stay with. On the basis of these shared experiences, it is safe to conclude that Ankore family members have remained intertwined and that in-laws, especially mothers-in-law, have remained the monitors of their daughters-in law in the family system. About 80 percent of the married women interviewees and FGD participants reported that more often than not, such entangled interferences of parents and in-laws have remained a constraint to married women’s decision- making in their families, especially when the husband fails to safeguard the boundaries and interests of the extended and nuclear family as well as those of his wife.

4.2.6 Number of children Traditionally in developing countries there is a strong attachment to a large number of children in the family: The husbands wish to have 5.7 children and the wives 4.8 (see Table 2.1 in Chapter 2; UNDP, 2012a). Uganda being a developing country, my study sought to find out the number of children in Ankore families after almost 30 years of women’s empowerment and family planning sensitization programs. My data reveal that almost 60 percent of the married women interviewees had between 5 and 8 children and about 20 percent had 9 to 12 children, especially in rural homes. However, almost 15 percent mentioned having 1 to 4 children, especially the young couples between 20 and 35 years of age and couples in urban places, and about 5 percent of the women interviewees dodged the question or remained silent. It is worth noting that a “no answer” response regarding the number of children in

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Ankore families is not a surprise to me nor was it an oversight on behalf of my interviewees. It is well known to most people in Ankore families that parents do not easily reveal the exact number of their children, believing that children should never be counted, lest they die, as was explained by about 80 percent of the elderly key informants, married women interviewees and FGD participants. The relatively large numbers of children reported (up to 12) shows that the value attached to such large numbers is still evident, irrespective of location, income level and education and despite massive family planning campaigns in the country. According to my married women interviewees and FGD participants, the reasons for wanting to have many children differed from individual to individual. The following similarities could, however, be observed: ‒ Over 65 percent mentioned that having many children is an assurance for the posterity of their clans, but mainly for the security and care of parents in their old age, as there is no government scheme to ensure the latter. ‒ Over 55 percent reported that they still have enough resources to care for their children. ‒ Almost 35 percent of the interviewed Catholics (especially in rural places) mentioned that artificial family planning is against their faith and con- science. ‒ About 70 percent of the married women (especially from rural homes) explained that children are “a joy and a blessing from God,” and as long as they are delivered safely, they can easily grow up. ‒ Over 40 percent explained that with the society being agrarian and labor intensive, children’s labor contributions can augment the family’s economic production and food security. ‒ About 70 percent of the married women expressed that having many children, especially boys, rewarded their efforts through inheritance of a big share of their husband’s property, knowing well that there could be other unknown children from extramarital relations. ‒ Almost 70 percent of the married women reported negative health effects of artificial methods of family planning, which they either experienced themselves or had heard from those who had experienced them. The main health complaints were long periods of bleeding during menstruation (especially after using injectable family planning aids) and dizziness, loss of appetite, constant headaches and general weakness (whereas at the same time most of their activities require a lot of physical energy).

In addition, about 70 percent of my key informants, married women interviewees and FGD participants acknowledged cases where grown-up children,

Women’s position in changing marriage practices 109 especially sons, have provided security and protection to their mothers in cases of domestic violence and family conflicts, thereby improving women’s social status in family relations. In the same line of mothers’ protection, several key informants and FGD participants frequently referred to well-known proverbs such as: Engiri ezeire teribwa mbwa (A warthog that has produced off-springs cannot be eaten by dogs), Orume kurukura rwoonka abaana barwo (When a rabbit grows old, it feeds on its children) and Omwana omwe tamara nyina obugumba nari nyina omwe aba nyina busha (One child does not exempt a mother from being considered barren, or a mother of one is equally a mother of none). The message behind these proverbs is that if the children are many, they share the expected protective and caring responsibilities for the aging or vulnerable parents. On the other hand, however, over 80 percent of the FGD participants from urban and rural places, men and women alike, apart from financial and time constraints also expressed concerns about the rates at which family lands are generally reducing as a consequence of being shared by a large number of children. Likewise, about 35 percent of 120 interviewed married women with one to four children, mainly women from the elite and women engaged in hectic public space employment or businesses, referred to inconveniences related to being pregnant that disrupted their performance at work, especially in demanding private sectors. They also referred to a lack of balanced time to care for their children as another main reason for limiting the size of their families. Other concerns were the wish to have a well cared for and affordable number of children, in order to ensure for them a good standard of living and high- quality formal education. Looking over my data I conclude that, rather than sensitization campaign programs related to family planning, educational awareness, actual living circumstances and awareness of time and financial constraints to live their desired standard of life are the main factors in determining the number of children that are produced by married couples in the Ankore families. This finding is in line with so-called capability and freedom approaches, as proposed by Panzironi and Gelberhe (2012) and Sen (1999), leading to a change from within and querying a change from outside. These approaches are suggestive of a change in life that is affordable and agreeable to the people and that they have reasons and convictions to accept or adopt. From such mixed feelings and views related to the desired number of children in the family, I derive that there has been a change of perception and awareness of the implications of large numbers of children, although to a larger extent cultural attachment to children is still evident in Ankore families.

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4.3 Traditional marriage practices in motion

This section discusses traditional marriage practices such as the role of initiators, parents’ contributions, venue for marriage and giving of enjugano, a persistent and important but criticized ritual in the traditional marriages of Ankore families (Benywanira, 1997; Lumu, 2013; Mubangizi, 1963). More specifically, this section aims to evaluate whether there have been changes in these cultural practices and how these changes might have influenced the position of women in family relations. It is worth nothing that culture, as a way of life, is dynamic, whether it is internally or externally induced (Kanyandago, 2002; Kasenene, 1993). Similarly, a number of changes have taken place in traditional Ankore marriage forms, and it is not easy to attribute these changes directly to either internal cultural developments or to externally implemented strategies of women’s empowerment (formal education, economic attainment or political involvement). However, since strategies of women’s empowerment have been implemented close to 30 years now (mainly between 1986 and 2014), I will examine changes in marriage practices that have been attained, irrespective of their specific causes, and whether these changes have or have not improved the position of women in Ankore family relations.

4.3.1 Types of marriage From the literature discussed in Chapter 2, we know that in the traditions of Ankore families, traditional or customary marriage involving giving (or willfully exempting) enjugano (Fida-Customary Marriage and Registration Act 1973, Chapter 248) was the only known form of marriage that was required to legalize the position of a woman in her marital home. Customary marriage is one of the accepted and recognized legal marriages by the Uganda government that is contracted after an understanding and agreement has been reached between couples and their parents on both sides (FIDA Uganda, 2003; The Republic of Uganda, 1995). However, when my respondents were asked to indicate the type of marriage they were in, their responses revealed several forms of marriage. These are presented in Table 4.4.

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Table 4.4 Types of marriage (frequencies and percentages ; N = 240) Type of marriage Customary Church State Cohabiting N % N % N % N % Customary 70 36.65 120 82.76 1 25.00 − − Church 120 62.83 25 17.24 − − − − State 1 0.52 − − 3 75.00 − − Cohabiting − − − − − − 21 100.00 Total in this type of marriage 191 79.58 145 60.42 4 1.67 21 8.75 Not in this type of marriage 49 20.42 95 39.58 236 98.33 219 91.25 Total N of respondents 240 100.00 240 100.00 240 100.00 240 100.00

From a vertical reading of Table 4.4, it can be concluded that customary marriage ranks highest among the possible forms of marriage: 79.58 percent of all respondents were married through customary marriage, with only 20.42 percent not customarily married. Second in line comes church marriage (60.42 percent). State marriage was reported only by 1.67 percent of the respondents, and 8.75 percent reported that they were cohabiting. Customary marriage in Ankore families cross-cuts all the other forms of marriages, as horizontally shown by 82.76 percent with church marriages and 25 percent with state marriages. Moreover, of the 79.58 percent of respondents with customary marriage, 36.65 percent indicated that they have customary marriage only, 62.83 percent have added on church marriage, and 0.52 percent added on state marriage. When the same question was put to the married women interviewees, of which 75 percent were in a religious marriage form, they all mentioned that they first went through a traditional customary marriage process. Additionally, about 40 percent of the married women interviewees and FGD participants who indicated that they had customary marriage were hoping to have religions ceremonies as well. Only about 20 percent reported that they were cohabiting, and none of them had state marriage. State marriages are not yet popular in Ankore families. According to the FGD participants, an agreement between parents and relatives from the bride’s and the bridegroom’s sides differentiates customary marriage from cohabiting, which is based on the decision of two people to stay together. For about 80 percent of the FGD participants, the involvement of parents and relatives makes them interested parties and stakeholders in the new marriage as part of the existing family. They argued that it is the relatives’ obligation and duty to support this new marriage by initiating and integrating the bride into the family system and ensuring her protection from any harm,

112 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level including her husband’s wrath. Additionally, the FGD participants expressed that customary marriage gives married women not only physical family recognition and protection but also psychological fortification. As already indicated, most Ankore people are Christians (CIA, 2013, based on the 2002 census). I would therefore argue that they, notwithstanding their religion, have continued their traditional marriage practices. Indeed, Table 4.4 shows that 82.76 percent of the respondents reported that they have both customary and church marriages, conforming to the expected norm in current Ugandan religious circles. Similarly, the five religious leaders that I interviewed clarified that parents give consent as a way of confirming the fulfillment of customary obligations and as a requirement before church marriage can take place. From the FGD participants’ explanations, I derive that religious marriages are additional processes to legalize women’s marital status, with customary marriage remaining mandatory in Ankore family relations. Rather than eliminating the “insensitive” and “oppressive” traditional practice of the giving of enjugano, it has been resilient and transferred into the religious marriages. Table 4.4 also shows that only 8.75 percent of the respondents reported that they were cohabiting. However, over 80 percent of my key informants, 20 separated women interviewees, married women interviewees and FGD participants stated that cohabiting was a common practice, not only among urban people and elites, but also among rural spouses. For instance, almost 65 percent of the married women interviewees reported that they had cohabitated. Even so, the time spent in cohabiting differed from couple to couple, with 29.4 percent having spent less than 6 months in cohabitation, 57.2 percent between 1 and 2 years and 8.9 percent between 2 and 5 years; only 4.5 percent reported that they had spent above 5 years cohabiting prior to legalizing their marriages. In the interviews that I conducted, heads of departments of family protection institutions shared the challenges they usually faced in handling the increasing domestic violence problems, especially those involving cohabiting spouses. One of the interviewed officers in charge of a family protection police unit confirmed the trend and indicated cohabiting as a “losing game for women” when it comes to conflicts and separation of spouses. Under cohabiting, a man and a woman, with or without the consent of their parents, live together but their marital union is neither legally binding nor customarily recognized as marriage. This does not necessarily mean, however, that the man and woman are not regarded as husband and wife by their parents and the community. Since the legality of marriage is to protect and guard women against exploitation and to solve problems related to their property rights (in case of

Women’s position in changing marriage practices 113 marital conflicts and separation), about 95 percent of all my respondents pointed out that cohabiting exacerbates the vulnerability of women. One of the shared experiences (names have been changed) illustrates the vulnerability of women associated with cohabiting as a form of union:

Mary decided to live with her boyfriend Jimmy after their completion of university studies. During the past 9 years, Mary and Jimmy had four children, co-owned their home, bought land together and ran a joint business. The couple was treated by all as married. Then one day, Mary was informed by a friend that Jimmy was planning to wed another 20-year-old woman. Mary was devastated when she confirmed the rumors. She was even more frustrated when her lawyers informed her that she could not bar Jimmy from going ahead because their 9-year association was not a legally binding or recognized marriage.

From the experiences that were shared by the FGD participants and married women interviewees and from what I witnessed in the family court sessions that I attended during my fieldwork, I can conclude that Mary’s case is not an isolated one. Moreover, one of the lawyers working with the Uganda Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA) explained that although the position of married women remains vulnerable in circumstances of family conflicts, it is exacerbated when they are in unrecognized relations, such as cohabiting. In reference to the discussion in Chapter 2 dealing with the Domestic Relations Bill (L. Ndagire, 2013; Okwii, 2013), my study shows that despite existing governmental and legal conflict resolution institutions and family protection units, the law in Uganda does not protect cohabiting women, and they therefore tend to lose out in family relation conflicts, no matter how long they have lived in that family. Although cohabiting is becoming more and more common in Ankore families, the practice is still criticized. Moreover, about 35 percent of my married women interviewees and FGD participants in rural areas, particularly in Kiruhura and Ntungamo, reported that elopement fines are still adhered to before the bridegroom can be accepted to start the marriage process after a period of cohabitation. Asked about the reasons for cohabiting before marriage, almost 90 percent of my respondents reported that actual and perceived poverty among the people is the main cause. Notably, there is a lack of the money required for the commercialized and inflated enjugano. For instance, in all the FGDs it was argued that the enjugano, previously composed of traditionally available items,

114 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level has been greatly manipulated by the monetary economy, yet Ankore family systems still strongly attach value to it. Moreover, traditional social contributions towards the required enjugano, previously a family obligation, are also undermined by individualistic tendencies in the monetary economy. That has left the responsibility of raising the required enjugano in the hands of the bridegrooms who thus opt to first live and work together with the bride and legalize their marriage later. In cases where the intending couples living in perceived poverty wish to have exorbitant ceremonies as their friends or colleagues do, I noted accelerated cohabiting rates. They stay together with the hope of legalizing their marriage when they feel they are financially ready to organize their “dream ceremony”. This is believed to have led several couples belonging to the elite to cohabit for a longer time, say 5 to 10 years, in fear of having a “substandard” ceremony in relation to the desired celebration compared to those hosted by others. Another reason for cohabiting related to poverty, mentioned by over 70 percent of FGD participants, was that young people from schools, especially in urban places, combine efforts by renting an apartment together to share expenses and costs of living. Additionally, it was argued that mixed-gender schools, higher institutions of learning and places of work offer free interactions and gender proximity, which was traditionally not the case and strictly controlled through cautions, recalled as empaya t’erya na mwagazi (a she-goat does not safely graze with a he-goat). The implications of these changes of lifestyle were noted to gradually bring youngsters to live as married spouses sometimes, with or without intentions of legalizing their union. Yet about 50 percent of my male FGD participants reported that very few men wish to marry highly educated women or those in professions that offer them higher social status than their husbands. In Section 4.2.2 we have seen that especially in secondary and higher education the gender gap between men and woman is narrowing, with, for instance, 47.30 percent women vs. 52.70 percent men in tertiary education. The reluctance of men to marry educated women and the fear of women of failing to get a husband seem to accelerate the women’s rush to stay with men on uncertain terms. I note a change from the previous family-involving traditional process of marriage to a two-people- decision-to-stay-together cohabiting approach before legalizing their family relations into customary and/or religious marriages. An additional cause of cohabiting reported by over 85 percent of my respondents was associated with the consequences of parenting constraints in relation to out-of-home income-generating activities or projects or employment and career development, particularly of mothers, which reduces the moments of

Women’s position in changing marriage practices 115 interaction between parents and their children. It was explained that, although Ankore families practice exogamous marriage (i.e., wives coming from outside their husbands’ clans), women are more central than men in teaching children their clans’ cultural values. The increasing absence of women from the homes due to their increasing engagement in public space activities has led to parenting laxity. Moreover, about 80 percent of the FGD participants reported that there has been a notable decline in adherence to traditional norms and family values among children and youth from an early age. Similar concerns were attributed to the formal education system that keeps children away from their homes for a longer time. The apprehensions expressed are in line with Tiberondwa’s (1998, p. 8) concern that “Western formal education has created a big generational and communication gap between parents and their children and, consequently, a disconnection in family values and relations. That is being worsened by boarding schools for infants.” The duration of the education system up to undergraduate level is about 20 years or more, depending on whether a child repeats a class or not (Nambarirwa, 2010; Ssekamwa, 2000). As a consequence of the increasing number of years spent in the school system, parenting roles are diminishing. Almost 60 percent of the FGD participants reasoned that the early years of childhood and the teenage years are the period of character formation, beyond which it becomes too difficult or too late to shape a child’s perception of life. Moreover, about 85 percent of the married women interviewees, key informants and FGD participants explained that the majority of the parents who have not gone through the education system themselves have no idea what is taught in these schools. My respondents noted that parents assume that their roles, including the preparations for marriage, are also covered under the formal education system. In such circumstances, almost 80 percent of my respondents noted that children are left on their own to explore the world, including marriage, without any preparations for family relations. Nevertheless, about 90 percent of the respondents expressed that cases of bitter family relations, i.e., domestic violence, such as wife battering, victimizing children and neglecting the family, are not limited to cohabiting spouses, but cut across all other forms of marriages as well. However, participants explained that since there are no clear terms of reference in cohabiting, it is more difficult to protect women in cohabiting relationships than in customary, civil or religious marriages, when the need arises. Almost 85 percent of the key informants, married women interviewees and FGD participants reported that depreciation of females is the reason that Ankore families attach strict confining measures on the upbringing of girls,

116 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level more so than for boys, whose previous marital relations do not leave a negative mark or affect their opportunities to get new suitors. Almost 80 percent explained that it was rather for reasons of the protection of girls and women from the aftermath of depreciation than the assumed violation of women’s rights as human rights that Ankore families and the Ankore community were against cohabiting. The key informants and FGD participants explained that the practice of remarrying divorced women in Ankore traditions existed, with the wife referred to as enshumbakazi20 (slave-woman), which demeaned the worth of a woman in her marital and family relations. However, almost 80 percent of the married women interviewees and FGD participants explained that although remarried women were not taken on literally as slave-women, they were accepted in the family with a certain level of skepticism. Almost 90 percent of the informants expressed that whereas cohabiting did not affect men in terms of the social and legal aspects of married life, it has remained a concern for society and the families involved. Moreover, the Domestic Relations Bill as an attempt to address gender concerns and protect the rights of cohabiting women was eventually dismissed (Namutebi & Warubiri, 2013; L. Ndagire, 2013). My respondents reported that while the Marriage Constitutional Law in Uganda is well stipulated on paper, its implementation has remained problematic. Furthermore, it was noted that while the law’s implementation is challenging for all married women, it put cohabiting women in an even more precarious position, especially when family problems arose. Based on the above, I conclude that there have been changes in traditional marriage practices leading to forms of pre-marital cohabiting marriage. With about 90 percent of all participants expressing that cases of bitter family relations cut across all forms of marriages, these changes have not necessarily led to an improvement of the position of women and at times have even exacerbated the status of women in Ankore families.

4.3.2 Initiation of marriage Traditionally, most marriages in Ankore had a third party involved in initiating the marriage process or raising interest in the intended spouses or their families. To evaluate whether there are changes in the traditional marriages process, I asked my respondents who the initiators of their marriage were. The results are given in Table 4.5.

20 Enshumbakazi is a noun from the verb okushumba (to be taken on as a slave).

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Table 4.5 Initiator of marriage (frequencies and percentages) Initiator Couple Parents Friends Other N % N % N % N % Couple 155 99.36 1 2.38 − − − − Parents 1 0.64 35 83.33 1 2.78 5 41.67 Friends − − 1 2.38 35 97.22 − − Other − − 5 11.90 − − 7 58.33 Total per category 156 100.00 42 100.00 36 100.00 12 100.00 Married under this arrangement 156 65.00 42 17.50 36 15.00 12 5.00 Not married under this arrang. 84 35.00 198 82.50 204 85.00 228 95.00 Total N of respondents 240 100.00 240 100.00 240 100.00 240 100.00

Table 4.5 shows that 65 percent of the respondents reported that their marriage was self-initiated, for 17.5 percent it was initiated by parents, 15 percent by friends and 5 percent by others, who include relatives and neighbors. Accord- ing to about 75 percent of the FGD participants, formal education, exposure and proximity to each other in schools and places of work in current times have created opportunities and venues of interactions for people of marriageable age and for making independent decisions, including choosing their own marriage partners. As a consequence, according to my respondents, self-initiated marriages are quite common today and are largely practiced among educated and urban couples. For about 75 percent of the key informants and married women interviewees, the role of parents and relatives in matchmaking with respect to the marriage of their “children,” which used to be tradition in Ankore families, has been surpassed and is regarded as outdated now. Almost 75 percent of the marriages are fulfilled in terms of interests and qualities wished for in a partner. Challenges met by the couples in being their own marriage’s initiators were also given. For instance, almost 80 percent of the respondents noted that the marriage self-initiators were, in most cases, young and either lacked knowledge or ignored the marriage principle of owashwera n’owashwerwa abuuza (the one who intends to marry must make precautionary inquiries about the prospective partner). That advice was in itself a mechanism to avoid social, economic and health-related family problems that in the long run may result in strained marital and family relations. About 80 percent of the key informants and FGD participants expressed that, on the one hand, young people make no efforts to inquire and verify each other’s genealogical, moral and social backgrounds. My respondents explained

118 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level that the young people mainly consider physiological appearances, which were noted to change as time goes on. According to almost 90 percent of the respondents, the traditionally considered good traits expected in a woman were being hospitable, approachable, humble, prudent, submissive or obedient and hardworking; and those expected in a man were being principled, respectable, courageous, determined, responsible and accountable. Others were those personality traits and qualities traced from the history of their immediate family members (akarande). About 85 percent of the FGD participants noted that family information and personality traits were not considered necessary and important in self-initiated marriages. It was also noted that self-initiated marriages tended to start with cohabiting and on a trial-and-error basis. While precautionary inquiry was still the expected norm, it was also acknowledged that it is increasingly becoming difficult to implement this norm and find out useful information about couples intending to marry. For instance, about 70 percent of the FGD participants and key informants explained that traditionally, marriage in Ankore was between nearby families, where information could easily be obtained. On the contrary, today Banyankore, Bakiga, Baganda, Banyarwanda and other ethnic groups marry from distant places where families have no contact persons to make marriage inquiries. Besides, Table 4.5 shows that 65 percent of the marriages in the study were self- initiated, and as such, family members only get to know the intended partner when it is either too late to stop the marriage or the intending couples are not willing to listen to the given information or ignore it as malicious hearsay rumors. Considering the 65 percent of self-initiated marriages in Table 4.5, it can be concluded that parents’ and relatives’ involvement in traditional marriages is declining. However, based on the 17.5 percent of marriages arranged by parents, 15 percent by friends and 5 percent by others (i.e., a total of 35 percent), it is also clear that traditional marriage practices do still exist. Also, about 50 percent of the married women interviewees and FGD participants explained that in one way or another they were shown to their spouses by a third party, although the decision to accept or refuse the relationship remained theirs as the intending couples. Some of the stories on third-party initiated marriages given by the interviewees are reproduced below. The first story was told by a married woman from Bushenyi in 2008:

One evening in 2006, my aunt (a wife to my paternal uncle) asked my parents to allow me to go to her home in the neighborhood and assist her in preparation for her dinner, claiming that she was not feeling well. In the

Women’s position in changing marriage practices 119

meantime, some visitors came to my uncle’s home and I imagined it was just a coincidence. In the process of preparing the dinner, she intentionally kept sending me to get required items that were kept in her inner room, passing through the living room where the visitors were seated, thus giving a group of three gentlemen an opportunity to see me […]. [with loud laughter]21 Little did I know that one of them was to be my husband and the whole intention of going to my uncle’s place was a planned move to meet with this husband.

Another interviewed married woman from Ntungamo indicated that it was through a friend that she met her husband to be. Her friend had connected her to his cousin and she is now her sister in-law. Her narrative from 2007 runs as follows:

I used to be at their home regularly, participating in most of their family activities and she in our family celebrations. She very well knew my boyfriend at school, but she usually complained about him that he was not befit to marry me. So, in their family festivals preparation process, quite often, I would be paired to work on the same team with this cousin brother of hers. Eventually, we became intimate. […] [with open eyes and a wide smile] Eemmmm, I surely do not regret this relationship.

In other cases, in rural settings of Kiruhura, Isingiro, Ibanda and Bunyaruguru, married women shared more or less similar experiences of matchmaking and how their aunts or cousins (normally with the consent of their parents, especially their mothers) led them to their current husbands. In some cases those couples had not met before or had not known each other well enough before marriage, and in some instances they had no prior interest in each other, as my married women interviewees told me. Also, almost 60 percent of the key informants and FGD participants, mostly in rural areas, reported that they are aware that parents, relatives or friends of the bridegroom-to-be, men and women alike, initiate the desire or interest and possibilities for marriage in a particular family or with a specific girl and then form a network system with a person of the targeted girl’s family. Moreover, almost 80 percent mentioned that women more than men are key planners in matchmaking and networking in traditional marriage practices.

21 Italicized comments in brackets provide supplementary information from the author about the interviewee’s disposition, gestures, tone of voice or other relevant circumstances, with the aim of enhancing the reader’s understanding.

120 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

The methods that were used by parents, relatives or friends in initiating the idea and desire for marriage included convincing and influencing. However, about 50 percent of my married women interviewees and FGD participants explained that although matchmaking does not necessarily equate to forcing girls or women into marriage, there were instances where coercion and imposi- tion of a man was done against a woman’s wish as in the cases of okukiriza (forced elopement or kidnap), especially in rural places. According to almost 95 percent of the respondents, okukiriza was a traditional form of ambushed marriage by surprise, opted for by a man knowing that he may not be accepted by the desired girl or her family under normal procedures of marriage because of his past behaviors, personality, misfortune or family background. Nonetheless, about 95 percent of my respondents criticized and blamed the defunct traditional marriage approaches of okujumba, and okuteera oruhoko (forced marriage practices). In such situations, in line with existing literature (Mubangizi, 1963; Tumusiime & Bichachi, 2011), participants explained that unlike in okukiriza, in okujumba a man and his kinsmen, knowing that they would not be accepted under the Ankore traditional procedures of marriage, would put in place all that is required for enjugano. They would go to the family of the targeted girl with their items, pleading with them to allow them to marry their daughter. On the other hand, in okuteera oruhoko, a fearless man as a representative of the bridegroom would perform a ritual, as an abrupt engagement, by either pouring water mixed with herbs onto the targeted girl, or smearing cow butter on her forehead or touching her breast and running away to escape being caught and harmed. With shock and fears of what had happened, the bride’s family would call on the bridegroom’s family and accept him to marry the targeted girl. Based on the traditional superstitious fears and belief that if such an entourage was rejected, some misfortunes would befall the approached girl and her family, an impromptu marriage would be quickly arranged. About 60 percent of the key informants mentioned that although such marriages often resulted in successful relationships, sometimes the reverse was true. Experiences of how some women withstood the hardships and others escaped from such marriages were also shared during the interviews and FGDs. All key informants, FGD participants and married women interviewees expressed that okujumba and okuteera oruhoko as forms of marriage were defunct. To a smaller extent, however, a few cases of okukiriza (kidnap and forced elopement) of young girls were mentioned to be evident, especially in rural areas of Kiruhura and Ntungamo.

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4.3.3 The practice of enjugano The traditional practice of giving enjugano is central in formalizing customary marriage in Ankore families. However, the practice has been criticized as “enslaving women”, not only by women’s empowerment activists, both local and international, but also by development workers and religious institutions (Uganda Law Reform, 2010; UN Women & UN Global Compact, 2011). For instance, the Catholic leaders that I interviewed in Mbarara explained that missionary priests outright opposed the practice of giving enjugano in trade- tional Ankore marriages, but they did not succeed in changing or eliminating that practice. Referring to archival documents, a parish priest explained that in an attempt to eliminate the practice, the Catholic bishops in the Arch-diocese of Mbarara, then the Rwenzori vicariate made a church decree against enjugano in a meeting in 1951. After a heated debate to stop Catholic parents from receiving enjugano had become futile, a decree was passed that Catholic parents should only accept 200 Uganda shillings as a sign of appreciation from the bridegroom’s family, beyond which they would be denied holy sacraments (Catholic Bishops of Uganda, 1951). However, over 60 percent of the key informants and FGDs participants acknowledged the decree and shared their personal experiences and those of other Catholic parents on how they continued to receive the expected enjugano, in its full context (livestock, money, local beer, etc.) but in a clandestine manner, rather than the 200 Uganda shillings set by the church decree. Moreover, 91.3 percent of my respondents mentioned that enjugano had been given. Similarly, about 80 percent of the married women interviewees mentioned that enjugano had been given. My study shows that the traditional practices have not been eliminated, as giving and receiving of enjugano is still the norm and a requirement in the customary marriage of Ankore families. When I asked the married women interviewees whose enjugano had not been given why this was the case, they explained that they were cohabiting and that the plans of giving it were under way, in order to sooner or later legalize their marital union. Reasons for enjugano having not been given included either the girls’ parents’ disappointment and refusal or the husband’s inability to give it. Some of the experiences shared by interviewed married women are given below. The first is from a woman whom I interviewed in Mbarara in 2008:

I dropped out of school in 2004 and my parents were totally annoyed with me, so they chased me out of the home and refused to accept anything from him and his parents. However, recently they allowed me and my husband to

122 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

come home. [smiling] […] in the meantime, we are now organizing and planning to take the enjugano.

The second experience is from a woman from urban Ibanda, whom I interviewed in 2006:

Right after my university (12 years ago), I started living with my husband. He has the money but I do not know why he refused to go to my parents “officially” [i.e., to give enjugano and be a recognized son-in-law]. We participate in all the family activities, our children are welcomed in my natal family and all my marital relatives are fine with me, but I am surely not comfortable [silence], and my parents always ask me what my husband is up to. Mmmhh, I surely do not know how to approach this problem.

Another woman interviewee in Ntungamo in 2008 explained that:

My husband’s family background is very poor and when I married him, he had no stable job or any serious income. We have been working hard together to make ends meet. Now most of the required items in the home are already in place, including the enjugano that we were asked to give. This year, we are likely to finalize our marriage process.

From the shared experiences and perspectives of married women themselves, it becomes clear that having not given enjugano to their parents is related to the fact that the women had violated the expected norm. In the first excerpt the narrator “dropped out of school” and her parents were “totally annoyed” with her. In the second case the narrator “right after university started living with her husband” while in the third story the husband was poor and could not afford the expected enjugano, and consequently, the woman and her husband had been working hard together to adhere to the expected norm. In these experiences, rather than being victorious, respondents seemed to be disappointed for their enjugano being refused or not being given to finalize the marriage process. In the second story, the interviewee was disappointed and saw it as a threat to her status in her marital and family relations: “I surely do not know how to approach this problem.” In both the first and third stories, the women combined efforts with their husbands to accomplish the traditional obligation and thereby gain legality for their marriage and socio-psychological comfort, not only in their marital but also natal family relations.

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Almost 20 cohabiting spouses of the married women interviewed expressed awareness and concerns related to having given or not given enjugano. Moreover, over 50 percent of the key informants and FGD participants reported that it is a known practice in Ankore families that in the worst circumstances, where a wife dies without a husband having given enjugano, he may not be allowed to bury the dead wife until he has cleared this obligation to his in-laws. One of the participants informed me after a FGD that he gave such a ransom for his deceased wife in 2001 before he was allowed to take her body to his home. Otherwise, the parents of his deceased wife insisted on burying their daughter in her natal home, as if she never had been married. He explained that this position by the wife’s parents not only embarrasses the husband, as it is interpreted as “buying a corpse”, but also has psychological impact, not only on the husband of the deceased but also on her children, who would ask why their mother had to be buried at her natal home. Almost 60 percent of the key informants expressed that in addition to being a shame to the husband’s family, it is feared that burying a wife in her natal home causes misfortune in her husband’s and her children’s lives. Almost 85 percent of all informants explained that such a discomforting situation is normally avoided by honoring the enjugano obligation, not only for mutual societal respect, but also for parental blessings. Considering the given experiences, even in cases where enjugano had not been given for one reason or another, except in cases where the bride’s parents opted not to take it in a good spirit, the practice was evident and still respected in Ankore families as a formal way of legalizing the position of a woman in her marital and family relations. Asked about the views of their husbands about strained family relations as a result of giving enjugano, about 85 percent of the married women interviewees and FGD participants reported that the already given enjugano does not cause marital and family conflicts. Rather, participants explained that if a man instead fails to raise it, it contributes to circumstances of cohabiting, inferiority complexes for the men and the resulting psychological and physical family problems of questioning the legality of the wife and the husband’s own capabilities as a man in the society. The common expression, Nimushaija ki ogwo otakubaasa kuha enjugano! Biri takubaasa na mukazi (What kind of a man is he who cannot afford to work and raise enjugano! That means he cannot manage a wife), was frequently used by key informants, married women interviewees and FGD participants, men as well as women. Furthermore, about 60 percent of the FGD participants, urban and rural, men and women, shared that despite its commercialization, which had been inflated beyond people’s incomes, enjugano should be given, emphasizing that omwana w’omuntu

124 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level tatwarirwa busha (Someone’s valued child should not be taken for free or for granted). Therefore, the parents of a child ought to be soothed for the gap created by the “going away” of their daughter. On the other hand, interpretations about wives whose parents refused or became silent about enjugano were mentioned to cause doubts with questions such as ni mukazi ki ogwo? (What type of wife will she make?). Concerns such as “Why did her parents simply give her out to the in-laws?” and “Why are parents hesitant to be part of her marriage by declining to take her enjugano?” were comments frequently shared during the FGDs. Such doubts were noted to put the wives in a skeptical status. Rather than being seen as an enslaving mechanism, as it is usually judged (Mubangizi, 1963; Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010; UN Global Compact, 2011), almost 85 percent of all participants considered the giving of enjugano as a way of enhancing the status of women in their marital and family relations. Moreover, almost 70 percent of the FGD participants reasoned that the enjugano has nothing to do with the existing women’s inequalities to men, as married women may experience inequality to their husbands with or without having given enjugano. If enjugano and women’s inequalities were related, then the women whose husbands were pardoned for not giving the bride wealth would be equals in their family relationship – which is not always the case. With respect to the form in which the enjugano had been given, about 25 percent of married women interviewees and FGD participants mentioned livestock of indigenous Ankore long-horned cattle or exotic or cross-breeds, sheep and goats. However, almost 35 percent shared that it was both money and livestock while 40 percent indicated that only money was given. From the given responses, it became clear that changes occurred in the form of items given for enjugano from livestock to money. Moreover, as a consequence of the fact that people that live in Ankore have different origins, as much as there are similarities of giving enjugano, there are also differences in terms of the items that are given. For instance, while some families in Kiruhura, Ntungamo and Isingiro mentioned that they keep sheep, about 80 percent of all participants explained that sheep are for cleansing rituals and therefore were mentioned not to be part of enjugano items. However, about 50 percent of the key informants and FGD participants expressed that sheep, referred to as enjeru, were included in enjugano items. Currently, with the flaws in the enjugano practice, there were changes and several additional items that accompanied the traditional enjugano including, but not limited to foods, household materials and items including a vehicle, a house, or land and other gifts, depending on the affluence of the bridegroom.

Women’s position in changing marriage practices 125

At the time of the research, it was not only the bridegroom’s family members who contributed to the resilience and sustainability of enjugano as a traditional practice, but also friends of the bridegroom and even the bride herself, by contributing to the required items or negotiating with her parents to be considerate to the bridegroom. About 40 percent of the married women interviewees clarified that the more enjugano the husband gives to her parents, the better they get the feeling of the husband’s commitment to them and his capacity to be a man in the home and society. Furthermore, almost 90 percent of all participants indicated that rather than Ankore families fighting to do away with enjugano, they hold meetings to mobilize funds as a mechanism to support the bridegroom having accomplished the giving of enjugano.22 However, almost all participants unanimously agreed that the giving of enjugano, rather than being a traditional token of appreciation to the parents, has been commercialized and changed into a practice of affluence and indeed “bride wealth” accumulation. Moreover, throughout the interviews, it was expressed that people are totally against commercialization, but not against the giving of enjugano as a traditional practice. One of the key informants in Mbarara in an interview in 2006 clarified and explained it as follows:

Giving of enjugano differs from “paying” a bride price or wealth and has no true equivalent meaningful translation in local language to mean exactly what “giving” enjugano used to be. One can only pay for a priced commodity. Seen in that context then, the wife becomes a commodity purchased by her husband and his family with their money and her parents as sellers who expect to get profits and become wealthy from that buying and paying. Such understanding belittles a wife’s status and position as a bought item to be used as the buyer decides and wishes. Whereas a bought item is taken from the seller by the buyer for good and withdrawing all the rights [out of reach, of use, and belonging] from the seller, a wife in Ankore retains her full rights, identity and is better recognized in the natal family than previously. Instead, traditionally, omukazi atajugirwe, nakagwe atwarwa

22 During the FGDs it was clarified that the supportive mobilized contributions from friends are not meant to be part of enjugano, which is a “man’s venture to prove his worth,” but it is towards marriage celebrations. Instead friends’ contributions and support are based on whether the bridegroom has finalized the customary rites with the bride’s parents before mobilization (fund-raising) meetings begin. Almost 70 percent of key informants, married women interviewees and FGD participants argued that enjugano nikwo kuswhera (accomplishment of enjugano is the real marriage), which implies that without the man fulfilling it, the friends would be wasting their time to support him in the venture he has not taken seriously.

126 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

nk’omushumbakazi, nk’omuzaana [a wife whose enjugano is not given is ridiculed and considered a slave in that home]. In other words, her status and how she happens to be in the family without fulfilling the socio-cultural obligations for legal status and commitment of the husband’s family to her would be lacking.

In light of such understanding of enjugano in the context of Ankore marriage practices, I opted for using the verb “give” and not “pay” throughout the writing of this thesis. It is important to note that there are cases that show resentment and opposition of commercialized enjugano in Ankore families, where a man proposing marriage fails to meet the decided enjugano, now in the form of either money or a certain number and type of cows and additional items. Shared views revealed that a man is either forced to abandon the marriage affair with a woman or to cohabit with her until further notice or when the cohabiting spouses would work together to give it.

4.3.4 Venues of marriage celebrations Traditionally, marriage had to be consummated at the parents’ homes, i.e., natal and marital homes. According to my respondents in interviews and FGDs, married couples nowadays hold their marriage rituals in different places. For example, about 65 percent of the married women interviewed held their marriage ceremony at the bridegroom’s or his parents’ home, while about 35 percent reported that they had theirs at a hired venue in town. On the one hand, when I probed further into the reasons that could have influenced the choice of the venue, about 65 percent of the married women interviewees shared that they did their marriage celebrations at their parents’ home because of their parents’ request and their contributions together with their own interest to have their marriage in their ancestral villages. From this response it can be concluded that even when people work and live in urban places, they are still attached to their rural homes, parents and relatives with whom they wish to share marriage celebrations, irrespective of their incomes and level of education. On the other hand, reasons for marriage celebrations held in town in hired premises were explained to be attachment to friends and their contributions, better facilities and services in town venues and flexibility of their parents to come to those town places. When I probed further to establish whether changes in venues for marriage rituals had effects on the position of women in family relations, mixed responses came up. On the one hand, it was mentioned that if the family members agree on the venue, it may not affect the newly married wife’s relationship

Women’s position in changing marriage practices 127 with family members. However, on the other hand, it was explained that due to limited interaction and participation of family members in town-organized marriage ceremonies, there had been a clash of cultures (modernism vs. tradition) and a limited integration of the newly married woman in the family system whose position has remained at the periphery. Study participants noted that the consequence of limited interactions and internalization of the family member’s attitudes and interests has sometimes created relationship and information gaps between the newly married wife and the husband’s family members, which may result in misunderstandings and family conflicts. Negative feelings about urban-set marriage celebrations, as the one presented below from a woman interviewed in 2007 in Bushenyi, were shared by FGD participants and key informants:

I had been participating fully in relatives’ and village marriage functions and I knew my turn had come to receive reciprocal support from my friends, only to be told that the wedding and marriage celebrations of our son were to be in Kampala. With few people that could fit in the provided vehicle, we traveled to Kampala and the journey itself left me worn down. The 2 nights that I spent in Kampala, I did not sleep well because of the unfamiliar environment and bed. The worst disappointment came when the server gave me bony pieces of meat and sauce mixed together with foods. What irritated me most was that nobody could point out that I was the mother of the bridegroom and I was treated like an outsider in my own celebrations.

After some silence, she added:

When we came back home, there was no sign to indicate that my family had held a party and received a daughter in law […] no cow hooves and heads to be prepared for an after-party, no eagles and crows fighting for leftovers, ehhh […] When I complained about all those […], my daughter-in-law said that I am a munyakyaro w’omushema [villager and primitive]. That otherwise, how could I fail to realize all the costs that were involved for our upkeep and appreciate the success of their urban party! Such remarks of my daughter in-law annoyed all of us […] her father in-law, my children including her husband. I rarely visit their home in Kampala except when I am sick, and they also rarely come together in the village, except for Christmas and Easter celebrations.

128 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

The shared disappointment in the above experience was derived from the change of venue, which is perceived to deny the mother not only special recognition, but also a sense of ownership of the celebrations and traditional reciprocal sharing of her joys of receiving a daughter-in-law in her own home. The disappointment was exacerbated by the interests and perceptions of her daughter-in-law of the advantages of urban hired premises as compared to a home-based wedding, which became insults. The centrality of the mother in the family relations offended the entire family and also created conflicting loyalties for the son, who remained divided between the wife and family members. However, positive feelings were also shared by study participants. For instance, almost 40 percent expressed appreciation to their children for having had their marriage rituals performed in hired town venues. The reasons that were given included decreased loss of some household items that normally get damaged or stolen by people who come for the party and the overstaying of some relatives, which causes extra expenses. Others mentioned disadvantages and inconveniences that were associated with home-based parties related to sanitation and hygiene problems caused by a large number of people for the existing facilities. Moreover, almost 40 percent of the study participants, rural and urban alike, shared that they had a good relationship with their children’s families in the urban areas. From the given information, it can be concluded that to a large extent there is an acceptance of the change of moving from home-based to urban-hired premises in marriage celebrations.

4.4 Conclusions

I defined empowerment as the process and outcomes involving beneficiaries’ efforts, in this case women and men that are married taking the lead, collectively or individually, to change existing cultural and power relations in the family systems that disadvantage them and that they have reasons to change. I investigated whether traditional and allegedly “oppressive” and “insensitive” traditional practices have been eliminated or changed to improve the position of women in Ankore family relations. In this chapter, however, it turned out not to be obvious to associate the implemented women’s empowerment strategies, namely (1) increasing number of women in formal education, (2) increasing women’s incomes, (3) promoting women’s participation in policy and political decision-making processes and (4) promoting awareness on established intervening institutions for family protection and women’s rights, with the changes that have or have not taken place in the traditional Ankore family marriage practices and relations. Never-

Women’s position in changing marriage practices 129 theless, as stipulated in the United Nations General Assembly (1979) and United Nations General Assembly (1993), the intentions are to eliminate all discrimination against women and to incorporate women’s rights as human rights, respectively. Moreover, with Uganda being a member state since 1980 and having implemented empowerment strategies, especially since 1986, as discussed in Chapter 2, the traditional “insensitive” and “oppressive” practices are expected to have been eliminated or improved to help women to attain equality with men. Based on the discussion of the traditional practices, I arrive at the following conclusions. The traditional norm of having a man older than the wife has not changed. Moreover, with all respondents, married women interviewees and FGD participants reporting that a man was the head of the family, I conclude that the traditional family hierarchy and structure in Ankore families has not changed. The traditional perception and understanding by men and women alike of male headship and the secondary position of the wife in the family hierarchy is evident, despite almost 30 years of implementation of women’s empowerment strategies and women’s contributions to the families’ well-being. My respondents showed mixed feelings and views related to the number of children in their family. Although the traditional strong attachment to a large number of children has remained, I have shown that there has been a change of perception and awareness of the (negative) implications of large numbers. Traditionally, people in Ankore have been polygamous. While more than 85 percent of my respondents indicated that they are in monogamous relations, explanations of over 90 percent of the FGD participants pointed to persistent likelihoods of polygamous family relations in a different form of extramarital relations or cohabitation. Likewise, from the shared experiences of cohabiting married women interviewees, I concluded that although traditional polygamous marriage relations in homes have diminished, they continue to exist in a different form as extramarital and cohabiting relations. Moreover, the implications of extramarital and cohabiting relations rather than open polygamous practices were expressed to have adverse effects on women more than on men in the family relations. I further note that the economic-driven motives compounded with existing poverty in the area of study have accelerated rates of current generation men and women engaging in cohabiting relations. Although cohabitation is increasing in Ankore families and generally in the country, it is still criticized (L. Ndagire, 2013). Therefore, although couples in such a relationship may consider themselves as husband and wife, their marriage is not legally bound, traditionally, religiously or as civil marriage. Such a situation exacerbates the

130 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level position and status of wives more than the husband in family relations, especially in times of family conflict resolution where there is an absence of intervening guiding marriage rules. Furthermore, the traditional parents’ and relatives’ involvement in matchmaking and choice of marriage partners has largely decreased, with the old traditional marriage approaches of okujumba, okuteera oruhoko (marriages that are abruptly organized because the suitor has to be accepted for fear of what might happen to the family and or to the targeted girl) becoming totally defunct. To a smaller extent, however, a few cases of okukiriza (forced elopement) of young girls were mentioned to be evident, and “voluntary elopement” of girls seems to be on the increase. Additionally, self-initiated marriages are common today and to a larger extent among the educated and urban couples than among the rural and unschooled people. Furthermore, the enjugano was perceived to be commercialized and given in monetary terms rather than in livestock items. I can now say that the “insensitive” and “oppressive” traditional practice of giving of enjugano in customary marriage has not been eliminated and has instead been transferred into religious marriages as well. The general conclusion of this chapter, taking into account all the above, has to be that the empowerment mission of doing away with “oppressive” and “insensitive” cultural practices that work against women’s emancipation has largely not been achieved. In some instances where perspectives of traditional marriage practices have changed, such as in cases of extramarital relations and cohabiting, the position and status of women has been further aggravated with no traditional or state protection of women in marital and family relations. Ankore women and men as beneficiaries of empowerment seem not to be affected by the “oppressive” and “insensitive” cultural practices and therefore are not taking the lead, collectively or individually, to change existing cultural and power relations in the Ankore family systems. Finally, I conclude that the married women in Ankore either do not have the possibility to change the practices that disadvantage them or have no reasons to change them.

CHAPTER 5 Women’s economic empowerment and decision-making in the family

5.1 Introduction

One of the well-known strategies for women’s empowerment has been to support women economically to gain more money (Kyomuhendo & McIntosh, 2006; The Republic of Uganda, 2010; UNDP, 2012c, 2012d). As already discussed in Chapter 2, in Uganda this goal of economic empowerment has been implemented through stimulating women to participate in formal education and to attain formal employment and through income-generating activities and projects (The Republic of Uganda, 2010). This chapter examines whether women’s increased opportunities and improved incomes in Ankore families have also improved or enhanced their possibilities regarding their decision- making power relative to their husbands. In order to answer this question, my study uses both quantitative and qualitative data that were collected between 2006 and 2009 by conducting questionnaires with 240 respondents, conducting focus group discussions (FGDs) with 110 participants and interviewing 240 married women, 30 key informants and 20 separated women. In order to understand how women’s empowerment in Ankore families is evaluated from the participants’ own perspectives, in the following section I will present participants’ experiences and opinions in their own voices. The income-generating activities and projects (IGA/Ps) from which my participants share their empowerment experiences include livestock, piggery, poultry and beekeeping (in rural areas), shop keeping, food and beer selling, selling of clothes, saloon work, tailoring and professional careers (in urban areas). The views that individual women hold on the outcomes of these IGA/Ps and their evaluation of family relations before and after IGA/P participation highlight their own experiences with respect to work negotiations (compromise, acceptance, resistance, opposition) as personal struggles involved in addressing gender inequalities in decision-making at the household level. The stories told 132 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level and explanations given during interviews and FGDs, in addition to the answers given in the questionnaires, bring out the hidden and silent realities of family relations in the women’s day-to-day experiences and activities. Moreover, home visits to married women interviewees gave me an added opportunity to see some of the IGA/P-related improvements made in terms of purchased family assets, changed home environment, welfare and livelihood. Although my primary unit of analysis is married women, these women live in intertwined family relationships. Their lives include, for instance, parents, husbands, children, in-laws and society, who all in one way or another were mentioned as influencing or even determining their negotiation and decision- making possibilities and the implications of such on family relations thereafter. My participants shared their unique life experiences of women’s power struggles and possibilities of decision-making, some of which had similarities in content but were at the same time different in context and magnitude. Nevertheless, the diverse opinions of the participants in different localities, professions and IGA/Ps presented here offer a general picture of women’s empowerment in Ankore family relations. It is important to note that although education and IGA/Ps as empowerment strategies have been examined separately at a theoretical level in Chapter 2, here in the findings of my study they are discussed together, since they both aim at women’s socio-economic empowerment. Moreover, the education of women is given as a strategy for exposure, awareness and widening their scope of thinking and, ultimately, for creating stable and better income opportunities for women as professionals in the domain of formal employment (Areeparampil, 2009; Kwesiga, 2002; Nambarirwa, 2010). In this chapter, therefore, women’s empowerment is evaluated in socio-economic terms. The IGA/Ps considered in this context are diverse. They are in rural or urban environments, within the home or in public space, personal or group initiatives, and with or without government or NGO support. From the theoretical background information in Chapter 2, we already know the traditionally lower socio-economic and political status of women relative to their husbands and how this status was exacerbated by colonial and historical experiences. The evaluation indicators of women’s economic empowerment in the Ankore families under investigation are, therefore, based on improved women’s status and decision-making possibilities as a result of their improved incomes and contributions to their families. As indicated in the official national and international documents, the reports on women’s economic empowerment point to an advancement in family incomes, more assets or basic requirements being met in the home and improvement of general welfare for family members

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(The Republic of Uganda, 2012a; UNDP, 2011b, 2012c). Similarly, married women interviewees in my study shared their experiences of improved incomes and family welfare. The central research question, however, is whether women’s increased incomes have improved their decision-making possibilities relative to their husbands’ at the household level. The findings on women’s decision-making possibilities in my study focus on how outcomes from women’s IGA/Ps are utilized in terms of resource ownership, use and control, and whether women’s responsibilities at production and marketing levels have improved. The chapter first analyzes women’s entry points into IGA/Ps and discusses the implications of these projects for empowerment and decision-making, finally leading to an answer on the question of whether women’s empowerment in Ankore families is a reality or mere rhetoric.

5.2 Different types of IGA/Ps and implications for women’s decision-making

To analyze whether women’s increasing incomes and contributions to their family’s well-being have improved their decision-making possibilities relative to their husbands’ at the household level, it is necessary to have a closer look at the IGA/Ps (henceforth also projects for short) in which the 110 FGD participants and 240 married women interviewees were engaged. As indicated earlier, these projects include livestock, piggery, poultry and beekeeping (in rural areas), shop keeping, food and beer selling, selling of clothes, saloon work, tailoring and professional careers (in urban areas). It goes without saying that the married women have attained professional careers through attained education. Therefore, I asked how and why the projects in which married women were involved started. The participants’ responses are categorized under four headings: (1) government programs, (2) social groups’ initiatives, (3) individual or personal initiatives, and (4) couples’ self-realization of their family needs. These will be discussed below.

5.2.1 Government programs Since the agenda of the government of Uganda’s Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) is to reduce poverty through supporting women, almost 65 percent of 240 married women interviewees explained that the couple internally agreed to the wife becoming a registered member of a women’s association in order to benefit from government funds. As a consequence, the

134 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level wife is a member of a women’s association, not only on her own accord, but also representing the interests of her husband. This was more so for projects in rural areas, which were specifically initiated to have the participants benefit from the government’s poverty alleviation programs. Likewise, during the FGDs, about 60 percent of 110 participants in 11 study sites mentioned that they joined associations or groups that were already in place or those that were newly formed to make the required 300 membership number in order to qualify for the government’s support. In such cases, the pragmatic reason for women’s participation was increasing their family’s income. This, however, did not necessarily go together with improving the wife’s control and decisions on the outcomes from the projects. Table 5.1 gives an overview of the questionnaire responses by married women and men regarding economic empowerment and decision-making possibilities as a consequence of married women’s participation in government-initiated projects.

Table 5.1 Married women’s economic empowerment and their decision-making possibilities relative to their husbands’ in government-initiated projects (N = 240) Husband Wife Both N % N % N % Ownership of bank account 111 52.61 100 47.39 (N=211) Who banks the money 111 51.63 59 27.44 45 20.93 (N=215) ATM/counter withdrawal 116 53.70 59 27.31 41 18.98 (N=216) Spending/use of income 116 53.70 59 27.31 41 18.98 (N=216) Decision-maker 115 48.94 3 1.27 115 48.94 (N=236) Head of family 237 100.00 − − − − (N=237) Control over household income 205 86.86 3 1.27 28 11.86 (N=236) Basic needs provider 22 9.44 2 0.86 209 89.70 (N=233) Ownership of family assets 125 54.11 1 0.43 105 45.45 (N=231) Source: Questionnaire, married respondents 2006-2009

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Table 5.1 shows that of the 211 married spouses that responded to the questionnaire, 47.39 percent of the wives and 52.61 percent of the husbands own bank accounts for their incomes. I am aware that many people in Ankore, especially women in rural areas, do not have bank accounts. It is moreover also possible that the 29 respondents who abstained from answering the bank account question do not have an account. From the questionnaire responses, it is therefore apparent that with women’s participation in IGA/Ps and formal employment, the gender gap of bank account ownership at the family level is decreasing. However, in the majority of cases (51.63 percent) it is the husband who does the banking, whereas only 27.44 percent of the wives do banking themselves or together with their husbands (20.93 percent). In the same vein, 53.70 percent of the husbands indicated that they withdraw money from their personal accounts, whereas only 27.31 percent of the wives indicated that they do so by themselves or together with their husbands (18.98 percent). Table 5.1 furthermore shows that the husband is indicated as the head of the family in all cases (100 percent) and as the main controller of household income (86.86 percent). In 48.94 percent of the cases the husband is indicated as the decision-maker, whereas husband and wife both acting as decision- maker also occurs in 48.94 percent of the cases. Only 1.27 percent of the wives indicate that they are the decision-makers and controllers of household incomes. However, only 9.44 percent of the husbands and 0.86 percent of the wives are reported to be the sole providers of family basic needs; 89.70 percent of the respondents indicated that tending to basic needs in the family is a shared obligation of the husband and wife. Although husbands and wives are equally indicated with 48.94 percent as decision-makers, there is gender inequality regarding ownership of family assets, with husbands reported to have 54.11 percent sole ownership, 45.45 percent in joint ownership and wives reportedly having only 0.43 percent sole ownership of the accumulated assets. From Table 5.1 it can finally be noted that women’s financial position has improved since married women through their involvement in IGA/Ps make their own money and have personal accounts for it. However, it can also be noted that married women’s decision-making power and ownership of outcomes from their participation in projects have not equally improved. Detailed explanations for this finding were given by FGD participants and married women interviewees when they discussed family financial control and decision-making with respect to the husbands’ incomes and the outcomes from the married women’s IGA/Ps.

136 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

Below, an account is given of the opinions and explanations of 240 married women interviewees and 110 married spouses in FGDs23 in relation to gender perspectives (husband and wife) of financial control and possibilities of women’s decision-making relative to their husbands’ at the household level. As far as ownership of bank accounts is concerned, in rural areas about 35 percent of 80 FGD participants and 120 married women interviewees revealed that they own joint accounts (both wife’s and husband’s names are on their account). About 25 percent said that they have personal accounts, while about 15 percent of the married women specified that they do not have personal accounts, but keep their incomes in the husband’s account. Additionally, about 15 percent of the married women mentioned that they keep their money at home or in women’s groups as a revolving fund from which they get loans. However, almost 10 percent of the married women revealed that they submit their money to their husbands. Otherwise their projects might not be accepted in the home. In urban areas, about 60 percent of 30 FGD participants and 120 married women interviewees said that they own personal accounts, and almost 40 percent have a joint account for family savings. However, about 10 percent of the married women with joint accounts shared that they own secret accounts as well in which they save their personal incomes. Of the 60 men participating in the FGDs (in rural and urban areas), over 90 percent mentioned that they own personal accounts, in addition to the joint account with their wives. As far as banking or withdrawal is concerned, in rural areas almost 70 percent of 80 FGD participants and 120 married women interviewees mentioned that husbands bank the money, whereas about 25 percent reported that both husband and wife bank or withdraw the money. In rural areas, the general reasons shared by FGD participants and married women interviewees are that men usually go into town regularly so they can easily bank and withdraw the money and purchase the projects’ required items. In urban areas, almost 70 percent of 30 FGD participants and 120 married women interviewees with personal IGA/Ps and bank accounts bank money themselves. The main reasons given are that banking is near their workplace. Additionally, over 70 percent of 30 FGD participants and 120 married women interviewees shared that they do not trust their husbands with their money. However, some 20 percent of 120 urban married women interviewees expressed that they trust their husband to

23 Reference is made to Table 3.1 showing study location and Table 3.2 indicating category of participants, methods of participation and activity engaged in. With 10 married spouses participating in FGDs in 3 urban and 8 rural study sites, the total number of FGD participating spouses is 110, consisting of 30 urban and 80 rural. In addition there are 240 married women interviewees, 120 urban and 120 rural.

Women’s economic empowerment and decision-making in the family 137 bank the money while they continue with business activities (especially in joint businesses, shops and hotels). As far as spending and use of family incomes is concerned, about 70 percent of 110 FGD participants and 240 married women interviewees (in urban and rural areas) mentioned that they spend the money themselves, and almost 30 percent reported that both husband and wife spend the money. Almost 50 percent of 110 FGD participants indicated that they agree as a couple on what to buy. About 30 percent said that the husbands decide on how to spend the money, and almost 20 percent said that the women decide alone on what to spend their incomes for. Almost 85 percent of the 240 married women interviewees said that they spend their money on household basic requirements and on their children’s, personal and relatives’ needs. Moreover, about 80 percent of 240 married women interviewees mentioned that they have contributed towards family investments, such as land, household equipment and assets, buildings and vehicles (with different ranges between 10 and 80 percent). As far as decision-making is concerned, in rural and urban areas about 40 percent of 110 FGD participants revealed that they discuss and decide together as a couple on how to utilize the family income. About 30 percent mentioned that husbands decide alone and that sometimes they divert from what they agreed on and spend family income money on items of their own priority. About 60 percent of 240 married women interviewees and 110 FGD participants mentioned that husbands consult them as their wives, but the final decision remains with the husbands. On the other hand, about 25 percent of 30 urban FGD participants and 120 married women interviewees mentioned that they make personal decisions, sometimes in consultations with their husbands, sometimes informing them of their plans and sometimes seeking consent, while about 10 percent, in rural and urban projects, elite professionals and non- schooled women alike, expressed that they do not have to consult their husbands in their decisions. In comparison to the questionnaire responses reported in Table 5.1, the information given by the married women interviewees and FGD participants reported above concerning the use, control of household incomes, ownership of assets and decision-making is more or less similar. However, more married women in urban areas and projects (60 percent) than married women in rural areas (25 percent of 80 FGD participants and 120 married women interviewees) own personal bank accounts. Additionally, an almost equal number of married women in rural (35 percent) and in urban areas (40 percent) indicated that they have a joint account with their husbands, although 10 percent of the married women in urban areas indicated that they keep secret accounts.

138 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

Furthermore, 70 percent of the FGD participants in rural areas indicated that husbands do the banking and withdrawal of money, as compared to 70 percent of married women in urban areas who personally bank and withdraw money relating to their projects. The long distance from the workplace to the bank was indicated as a hindrance and problem for rural women’s control of the money from their projects, as they rely on their husbands for banking, withdrawing and the purchase of required project items. Additionally, although 70 percent of the married women, rural and urban alike, indicated that they personally spend income money from their projects, this is more often done in consultations with their husbands and the money is largely spent on household family needs. Moreover, although married spouses said that they sometimes decide together on how to utilize the family incomes, to a large extent husbands were noted to decide alone and sometimes to spend family income money on items of their own priority. Based on the given explanations and reasons, I concluded that men, especially husbands in rural more than in urban Ankore families, are financial controllers of family incomes and the outcomes from their wives’ IGA/Ps.

5.2.2 Socially initiated programs My study noted that about 65 percent of married women and FGD participants, especially in rural projects, were in associations because their friends had helped to convince their husbands to allow them to join the women’s self-help groups in order for the family to benefit from this. Similarly, given the expansion of what were initially self-help groups into Savings and Credit Cooperative Associations (SACCOs) for government support and given the fact that the wives were representing the family interests to access the offered government support, the husbands granted their wives permission to be members of these associations and start a project in the home. In such cases, the husband remained the controller and decision-maker of the family project’s outcomes. In that regard, several married women interviewees shared their experiences, similar to the one captured below.

I saw money issues were creating problems in the home, because my husband insisted that I should give him all the money that came from the project. When I gave it to him, he drank it or put it to his own use, and I realized I was wasting my time and energy. Whenever I refused to surrender the money, it would mean fighting […], refuse my food […], victimize the children […], refuse to talk to anyone in the home […], or refuse to come to my bed […]. Once, when I was out of home […] he sold all the business

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items. I gave up the struggle for fear of being chased away and having to leave my children or being killed. Currently, I am a stay-at-home mother, growing and selling my harvests from home. That is where I get money to tend to my needs […], I subscribe to the women’s associations that I belong to, secretly. (Married woman, Buhweju, 2008)

In the above experience, a wife narrates how money intended for her economic empowerment rather exacerbates her marital and family relations. The husband is the known head of the family and he insists on being treated in that way. As the woman has to act as a representative of the husband in the project, he expects her to give him all the money outcomes from the project. Furthermore, to prove his position, he frustrates her efforts by drinking or putting the money to his own use. If his wife refuses to be compliant, he becomes violent or plays tricks (refusing her food and refusing to come to her bed) that hurt the wife and later would cause blame to her. The husband’s resistance to the wife’s up- coming economic power stems from the fact that he fears that his position as the head of the hierarchical family system will be undermined. The wife is in fear of being chased away and having to leave the children or being killed. She therefore stops the project and keeps her marital relations, but looks for other acceptable means of meeting her family needs. Apart from the woman’s realization of wasting her time and energy, she prefers family relations to her economic empowerment and gives up the struggle against her husband. Being accommodating may be seen to contribute to women’s subordination, but in this experience it turns out to be a mechanism of preserving relations while continuing the economic struggles according to means that are approved by the husband. Similar experiences resulting in women giving up their interests for the sake of keeping their marriage and family relations were shared by several married women during interviews in urban and rural areas alike. In such cases, the sustainability of a wife’s membership in a women’s association largely depends on the interests and goodwill of the husband who directly or indirectly has the mandate over the project. About 70 percent of married women interviewees noted that although there may be an increase in family income from a woman’s project, its survival largely depends on the husband’s goodwill. Moreover, the participants explained that unless the husband benefits and his status as the head of the family in the project conducted by his wife in his home is maintained, the project’s potential to empower women as individuals is futile.

140 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

5.2.3 Individual initiatives About 45 percent of married women interviewees in rural and urban areas ran personal projects on an individual basis and not as group members. Above 90 percent of these women are in agreement with their husbands, although about 5 percent mentioned that they started their projects against their husband’s wishes and without any approval or support. In the former cases, where the husbands accepted their wives’ ideas, they gave support and there seems to be cooperation in production. Below is an extract of an interview with a married woman working on a project in a rural setup in agreement with her husband.

When I bought this cow, we agreed to keep it on zero-grazing, as we do not have enough land for its free-range feeding. My husband [a taxi-driver] brings home banana peels from town, and sometimes, when he has time, he fetches water [with the vehicle] that lasts at least two days. I sell the milk to the neighbors and use the money to run day-to-day family needs and activities. He does not ask me where I put the money since I also do not ask him to cover basics in the home. We have no problems and we support each other. I give him money to buy required drugs in town and on Sundays, he helps me with the spray pump to wash the cow. Our children are in school and we meet the costs together. (Married woman, Ihunga, 2009)

This narrative from a woman who is engaged in a project with the approval and support from her husband offers an illustration of how economic empowerment can go together with a woman’s possibilities of decision-making. The use of “we” in the first sentence immediately after the opening “when I bought this cow” indicates the wife’s abiding by the expected norm of her husband being part of the project. Irrespective of the cow being bought by the wife alone, it becomes a family project. Her language remains inclusive, she uses “we agree” and “we do not have” in the first line, “we have” and “we support” in the sixth line and “we meet” in the eighth line. She bought the cow but they apparently share the project. There seems to be a clear but silent agreement on how to cooperate in the wife’s project. The decision to keep the cow on zero-grazing implies that the husband has to support the project by bringing home banana peels from town for the cow to eat, fetching drinking water and sometimes helping his wife in washing the cow. The wife for her part sells the milk. The silent agreement referred to above includes that the husband does not ask his wife where she puts the money and she does not ask him to cover basic needs in the home, i.e., she uses her money to meet day-today family needs. The way in which they support each other is also nicely

Women’s economic empowerment and decision-making in the family 141 illustrated by the fact that she gives him money to buy medicine in town and that he in return, so to say, helps her with washing the cow on Sundays. Moreover, they share the costs of their children being in school. The moral of this narrative is that if there is unity of purpose, a husband and wife can share activities and support each other without this causing any problems. However, among the individually initiated projects there are about 12 women of the 240 married women interviewees who said that they have personal projects against their husband’s wishes and friends’ criticism. For instance, one married woman who started a second-hand clothes business in a rural setup (walking from house to house) against her husband’s wishes or approval said the following:

Up to now my husband does not support me and does not know my transactions. […] he gave up the struggle against me, although he does not contribute to the family expenditures, since then. His argument is that since I wanted to work and maintain the family, then I should do it. It is painful to cover family needs of which he becomes a beneficiary, but at least we have what was lacking in the home. (Married woman, Isingiro, 2009)

In this narrative by a woman who is engaged in a project without her husband’s approval and support, the use of the singular pronouns “my” in “my transactions” and “I” in “I wanted to work” and “I should do it” clearly reflects the woman’s position of having to deal with the project on her own and, as a consequence, with maintaining the family on her own. The narrative clearly depicts the husband’s position: He does not support his wife, he does not know her transactions, he gave up struggling with her and, since then, he resigned from contributing to family expenditures. The husband’s argument for being non-cooperative is clear: If his wife decided to work and maintain the family, she should do so. Her husband’s non-cooperation seems to be interpreted by his wife as a form of punishment: He gave up on her because she engaged in a project. Having to cover the family needs on her own and especially the fact that her husband clearly profits from that (“he becomes a beneficiary”) is considered a painful experience. On the other hand, there is also the conclusion that “at least we have what was lacking in the home”, i.e., in my understanding, what was lacking when she was not yet engaged in a project and making her own money. In her narrative, the woman sounds confident with self-esteem, having succeeded in opposing the husband’s attempts to stop her from doing the project. The husband, however, although he gave up the struggle against her,

142 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level has not totally given up, as the wife says. He does not contribute to the family expenditures anymore, with the argument that the wife wanted to work to maintain the family, which is interpreted as undermining his position as the head of the hierarchical family system. Despite her gains and control of her project’s outcomes, she expressed disappointment and discomfort, not only with having to meet the family’s financial expenses, but also by the husband being a beneficiary and not a provider. However, she has not compromised her autonomous decision, despite her husband’s opposition. Nonetheless, with the husband not contributing to the household expenditures, he makes “indirect control and decisions” of how the wife’s income should be spent (i.e., on household requirements or family needs), and it pains the wife. Withdrawing contributions to family requirements was an experience shared not only by rural married women, but also by schooled and professional women interviewees in the formal and urban employment domain, including, but not limited to, married women teachers, doctors, nurses, secretaries, bankers, lawyers and other administrative officers. One of the professional married woman interviewees, for instance, said the following:

My husband does not stop me from working or purchase of assets [vehicle, plot of land] as long as they are registered as family property. So I register them in his name or at least jointly to keep peace. (Married woman, Ibanda, 2008)

A woman banker said:

He does not stop me from working, but I cover almost all the day to day expenses in the home [salt, soap, sugar, paraffin, children’s shopping, medical costs, you name it]. But at least he pays school fees. (Married woman, Ntungamo, 2008)

A lecturer shared that:

I cover all utilities [water bills, electricity, compound maintenance] and family requirements [food items, medications, fees], and he invests in bigger projects [like land, vehicle, plots] which are obviously in his name alone. Even water and electricity bills are all in his name. It is his name that is registered and known in those offices, but I still pay the bills; otherwise, previously we would get disconnected. (Married woman, Bushenyi, 2008)

Women’s economic empowerment and decision-making in the family 143

The above examples are not isolated cases. Similar experiences, although different in content and context due to differences in socio-economic situations in the different families under investigation, were common among married women interviewees. Almost 90 percent of 240 married women interviewees and 40 percent of 60 male FGD participants expressed that since most of the married women’s savings and incomes are spent on their families’ basic requirements and well-being, whereas husbands save theirs for either their personal interests or for bigger family assets, most importantly land, it would be ideal if husbands would include their wives’ names on the purchased family properties. However, over 60 percent of 240 married women interviewees and 110 FGD participants mentioned that this was not the case. The above interview fragments are confirmed by the findings in Table 5.1 that 54.11 percent of the husbands indicated that they have personal ownership of family assets, 45.45 percent of the wives indicated that they jointly own family assets with their husbands and only 0.43 percent of married women indicated that they personally own their assets (nine respondents skipped the question on property rights). However, about 25 percent of 240 married women interviewees, both in rural and urban areas, revealed that through the savings they have realized, they have purchased and registered their property in their own names. Although about 3 percent of those who mentioned that they have personal property said their husbands know about it, the majority explained that it is their secret. According to the interviewees and FGDs participants, the family property ownership is in the hands of the husband, who owns property on behalf of the family, with his wife or wives having user rights as long as they remain married to him. A married woman’s personal property was explained and understood to be hers with an ulterior motive of quitting her marital home, unless she purchases the property in the name of the husband or includes him in the purchasing agreement. Otherwise, they argued that when a woman owns a property, it is hers and not on behalf of or for the family. While such thinking may be understood to mean autonomy and empowerment of women, the interviewees and FGD participants explained that it creates suspicions and uncertainty of husbands towards their wives and hence a threat to the position of married women in marital and family relations. In an interview, a food stall businesswoman elaborately shared several examples in relationship to women’s exploited entrepreneurial efforts and why she made her decision to register her self-earned property in her own name.

I decided to register my purchased land and have its title in my own name, because it is mine and I want it to belong to me […]. I had to do this

144 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

because the wives of my brothers-in-law were chased away, sometime back in 2005 and 2008 respectively, for no serious reasons and were not given any of their property with which to start a new life. […] My friend, a doctor, had to escape her bitter relations empty handed – not even with the house property she had bought with her own money […]. Women in the villages have had their goats or cows sold by their husbands, claiming that these are family property […]. In my village, I have seen women leaving their gardens of beans, millet and cassava or potatoes behind. Later their husbands sell them and use the money for drinking or marrying other women, without considering the children left behind […]. So, “my friend”, [with seriousness and a shrug of the shoulders] I had to learn and take precaution as the Banyankore say: Kworeeba akanyafe kateire muka baro, okarenzya orugo [When you see a cane that was used to beat your co-wife, you should throw it away beyond the homestead’s fence, implying that the same stick can be used against you anytime]. Even if I was to divorce, I would still own and use my land. Besides, I had to register this land in my name in order to freely use it as my surety for my business loans. (Married woman, Mbarara, 2009)

In the above transcript, the property of the interviewed woman is known by her husband. However, about 30 percent of married women interviewees revealed that they have their personal property (mentioned items range from livestock like goats, sheep and cows to plots of land) in their own name without their husbands knowing this. It is also noticeable that almost 90 percent of 60 women’s projects in urban centers are in hired premises (saloons, shops, restaurants, hotels, food stalls, clothes and beer selling places) that require license operations. However, almost 95 percent of the 60 women’s projects, though jointly run by husband and wife, are registered in the husbands’ names only, and about 60 percent of the IGA/Ps owned and run by women are registered in their own names. For instance, in several cases when I asked in whose name their business was registered, women confidently answered “mine”. Others added: “because […] the business is mine and mine alone.” Yet others asked back rhetorically, “In whose name had you expected me to have registered my business?” Those responses confirmed women’s ownership of their projects. However, when I probed further on the women’s spending traits in order to determine decision-making possibilities regarding the use and control of their incomes, husbands were mentioned to be the decision-makers. This response was in line with the questionnaire responses of the married spouses in Table 5.1

Women’s economic empowerment and decision-making in the family 145 indicating that 53.70 percent of the husbands utilize family incomes compared to 27.31 percent of the wives, with 86.86 percent of the husbands in control of household incomes. Similarly, 48.94 percent responded that only husbands make decisions and another 48.9 percent that both husband and wife make decisions together on the use of family resources in the home, with only 1.27 percent indicating that a wife is a decision-maker on the outcomes of her income-generating activities. These findings reveal how decisions on the use and control of family incomes, including incomes from women’s projects, are made. The questionnaire outcomes point to the husbands as main decision- makers on family incomes in Ankore families. Irrespective of the fact that only 9.44 percent of the husbands contribute to their family’s basic needs and well- being (as opposed to 89.70 percent of the wives), the husband’s status as the head of the family is confirmed by 100 percent of the respondents, and his final word has remained vital in family decisions. Implications of male headship, dominance and hierarchical order on women’s decision-making in family relations have been discussed in Chapter 4. Similarly, considering the shared experiences of the interviewed married women in IGA/Ps in this chapter (i.e., left to cover most of the home and family basic requirements, which differ from family to family, as their husbands turn their interests elsewhere), men are noted to be family income controllers and generally decision-makers in Ankore families. It is noteworthy that only about 1.27 percent of married women mentioned that they take control and make decisions over their incomes. As already noted from the previous explanations, this practice deviates from the expected norm of property ownership by the husband, which is mentioned to be a learned practice either from women’s own or their colleagues’ previous experiences. Besides learning to keep personal property secretly, some women have resigned and separated from exploitative relations. For instance, one of the 20 selected separated24 woman interviewed on issues of decision-making narrated that:

When I started my business of selling local beer, all my savings were aimed at buying a piece of land where we could put up a house to call our own home, as we were in a rental house [omuzigo], in which I found my husband before marriage. With the fifth loan, I increased my business into pur-

24 I use the word separation and not divorce for two reasons. First of all, in the context of Ankore marriages, divorce is attained with the return of enjugano, if it had been given, and none of the interviewed separated women had fulfilled that obligation. Secondly, more often than not the separated spouses tend to reconsider their decision and reconcile for reunion.

146 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

chasing and selling several jerricans of waragi that is locally made, which boomed my business. When my husband learned that I had obtained the money to buy the land, he wanted me to first lend it to him. […] that he would give it back to me soon after we had seen the land to buy. I totally refused, for I had had enough of his tricks and several stories from my friends in this village of how women lose not only their money, but also their businesses and acquired assets through loan recovery. He became furious and violent […], he started beating me for dead whenever he came home over the weekend. When I shared my plight with his parents and relatives, they said it was my fault, because I do not respect [niimujooga, nimugaya; demeaning, devaluing] my husband. So they were condoning or supporting his behavior. My own parents, especially my mother, advised me to accept the idea and surrender the money for the sake of my life and children. [short silence] Nawe taraanyambire [She too, did not help me at all]. […] I had got tired of beatings and my bitter marital relationship was getting even worse. I decided to leave his place [omuzigo]. I bought this piece of land and built this house where I live with my children. (Separated woman, Isingiro, 2008)

In this case, the type of project (selling waragi) is being questioned as inappropriate for a married woman by her husband and his relatives. The same applies to the fact that she wants to build a house “to call our own house” since building a home and its ownership is a prerogative of men. Although she calls the home she intends to build “our own home”, her move is interpreted as demeaning or devaluing not only her husband but also his parents and relatives, i.e., as undermining the husband’s position in the headship family structure. So they all defend the husband’s position by condoning and supporting his behavior. The husband wants to disrupt his wife’s mission by asking her to first lend him the money. On her refusal, he becomes furious and violent and beats her up. Her own mother does not necessarily blame her daughter nor condone the behavior of her husband, but advises her to surrender the money for the sake of her life and her children. She, however, leaves his place, buys land, builds a house and takes her children with her. From the shared experiences of the 20 interviewed separated women, it becomes clear that some women, out of bitter experiences, have learned to deviate from the expected norm and have stood their ground to make decisions, including separation from their husbands. Separation opens a new trajectory of women’s empowerment that goes well beyond my unit of analysis, i.e., married women. Nevertheless, almost 30 percent of married women interviewees and

Women’s economic empowerment and decision-making in the family 147 married spouses in the FGDs expressed that separation is a solution to bitter relations. However, while about 10 percent did not say what women in bitter relations should decide, a majority (60 percent) explained that women’s empowerment at the cost of marriage and family relationship may not enhance the position of women in a society that values family relations as an important part of human life. In the above story, this is the reason why the mother advised the daughter to give the money to her husband. In Ankore families, as was shared by almost 95 percent of the separated women interviewees and FGD participants, such women’s empowerment, i.e., empowerment at the cost of marriage, is highly criticized. Moreover, men and women alike put the blame on the separated wife’s impatience, negligence, big-headedness and failure in life. My study concludes that separation (or divorce) as a sign of empowerment is an indication that empowering married women within their marital relations in Ankore families is an uphill task.

5.2.4 Couples’ self-realization projects Due to increasing financial strains and dire needs in most families, some 40 percent of married couples realized the necessity to start IGA/Ps, be it with combined efforts or in the hands of women only. One married woman interviewee in a rural project commented as follows:

Out of dire need and the poverty that we were in, I joined a women’s group, from which I borrowed a revolving fund to start a poultry project. It was not cost-effective in terms of time and required medication, and most birds died off. [Enkooko n’ekiza omwana obwetaagi, meaning that the required care and attention for a hen is more than that for a baby.] Later, I changed to the zero-grazing of cows. Although it is also time-consuming, it was a big relief for my husband and us all, so he has no complaint with what I am doing. He normally assists me with physical work. I gave him some money from my project, from which he started his carwash bay project. We make decisions and plan for our family incomes jointly. [with a slight smile] Omumazima turigye [Sincerely, we are okay]. (Married woman, Bushenyi, 2008)

In the above situation, a wife searched for a solution to the problem of poverty in the family, which was known to both the husband and the wife. Although the solution, a poultry project and later zero-grazing of cows, was initiated by the wife, it was approved by the husband. This is probably because the project is done within the home and the husband’s position of headship in the family is kept by getting him some money from the wife’s project in order to enable him

148 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level to start his own carwash bay project. Consequently, the husband is relieved, he has no complaints, he is supportive with physical work and they make decisions and jointly plan their family income. Also in an urban setup, while interviewing a married woman in the presence of her husband25 (who insisted that he had to be part of the interview), a woman explained that:

When we realized that our family was growing bigger and children would need to go to better, but expensive schools, we agreed to sell existing family property – cows, goats and some land – to start off this business of a hard- ware shop project. We shifted to this town home and we have purchased more property out of our savings. [dodging the property ownership question, she quickly concluded the following] Eeeemmhh… we have no problems, we are working together and we support each other. We use the money to pay school fees for our children and our home and family needs. (Married woman, Mbarara, 2008)

In the above case, there was self-discovery and realization of existing problems by the husband and the wife, i.e., the “family was growing bigger and children would need to go to better, but expensive schools.” She repeatedly uses “we” as an indication of unity of purpose and acting together. They decided to use the available means to solve a seen need, i.e., to improve their livelihoods, by selling their rural property and starting a business in town. By all means, the arrival of the project was timely as a relief to the family to address the financial problems that were core to both of them. However, in the presence of the husband, who insisted that he had to be part of the interview, I noticed that the wife could not say much. Assertiveness and impatient looks by the husband were observed as the wife gave responses in a consultative, but fearful and careful manner (she kept stealing a glance at him). Also, the intentional avoidance of the property ownership question indicates that the husband is in control and makes major decisions on behalf of the wife and the family. Yet in some cases with similar situations of dire need, FGD participants mentioned that some husbands opposed or resisted their wives’ ideas of having a project in “their homes”, which would be an added income from the women. The given explanations were that simply the husband was either not consulted before, leading to a violation of the social order and norm, or he himself had not seen the need for the wife to work. It was mentioned that even when the

25 In about three instances of married women interviews, husbands insisted on remaining in attendance.

Women’s economic empowerment and decision-making in the family 149 husband is not asked to contribute anything towards the project or the family members’ well-being, some men still fight against the wife’s project for recognition and to be kept in high self-esteem and status as head of the family. For instance, in a project in a rural trading center that came out of necessity, seen by a woman but not by her husband, the woman shared the following:

I sold my property at my natal home and started brewing and selling local drinks in the village, waragi, kwete and tonto-amaarwa. Rather than supporting me, my husband just came with his friends to drink without paying. I could see that the men I hired to help me in waragi preparations were in support of my husband. When I reported to his parents, at least they listened to me and counseled him that I was doing the business for the good of our children and the family. However, later my father-in-law told me in confidence that the business I was engaged in was a shame to me and to the whole family, and that if I could do something decent, he would give me his support. With the money that I had saved, I changed to running this hotel. (Married woman, Bunyaruguru, 2008)

Even though there is a need to solve the family problem, the experience above shows that this type of project done by a married woman, i.e., selling liquor, is being questioned not only by her husband and his relatives, but also by society as a whole. There is a negative perception towards this type of business, termed as “a shame to her and to the whole family”, that is revealed by the father-in- law. Consequently, she listens to her father-in-law’s advice and turns to an acceptable type of business, running a hotel, which is considered something feminine and socially accepted as decent. Another woman in a goat-rearing project shared a similar frustrating experience involving her husband and his relatives:

He forcefully kept taking away my money or selling goats from my project, […] that how and what are his gains from the project!! Or else, I take the project away from his land, if he has no stake in the business. His kinsmen supported him that I am arrogant and big-headed. Institutions of law – police, FIDA (U), probation office – were equally unhelpful. (Married woman, Ibanda, 2008)

I observed that there were only a few goats in the shed, but she revealed to me that she took most of her goats to her natal home and some to her friends’ homes, which the husband does not know. Similar practices were shared by

150 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level several other interviewed married women. In general, from the shared experiences throughout my field study, I conclude that the reasons and purposes for entering IGA/Ps, in one way or another, have implications for determining gender relations and women’s decision-making possibilities regarding their projects’ outcomes. Moreover, when conflicting loyalties appear, the majority of the women compromise their views in favor of their marriage and family relations rather than pursuing income-generating activities. Additionally, the expected traditional hierarchical order and authority of a man as the head of the family is still strong and respected. Consequently, a husband has remained the controller and owner of family incomes, despite women’s empowerment and wives’ involvement in IGA/Ps and contributions to the homestead’s well-being.

5.3 Women’s empowerment in Ankore families: Reality or rhetoric?

To critically evaluate whether women’s increased incomes have empowered married women, I examined women’s activities in IGA/Ps and their gender implications in terms of working atmosphere, value attached to women’s contributions to the family, life experiences and possibilities of equality to men and the elimination of gender discrimination. Having in mind married women’s experiences in traditional Ankore families as discussed in Chapter 2, Sections 2.3.3 and 2.4.2, I compared the shared life experiences to determine the achieved improvement in attitude towards women in public businesses, women’s status, gender roles and family relations. Elderly key informants with their past and current experiences gave comparative empirical data on the position of women before and after women’s empowerment in Ankore families. For instance, about 75 percent of the key informants mentioned that way back in the traditions of Ankore, muka nanka (one’s wife) even as a widow was never expected to be in the open markets for transactions and purchases of family assets, except for food items. From the shared stories during the FGDs and interviews, that has remained the thinking trend against women who currently engage in IGA/Ps in the public space. Apparently, women in the open market are still criticized because their appearance there is not culturally welcomed nor is it a socially approved practice in the area under investigation. According to stories from five renowned key informants (two old women and three men from Mbarara, Isingiro and Bushenyi), previously there were no long-distance transactions conducted in the area. In line with Tumusiime and Bichachi (2011), they explained that people were dependent on barter trade at

Women’s economic empowerment and decision-making in the family 151 the inter-household level and that such exchanges were mainly in the hands of women. The only long-distance transaction happened where men went to a salt- lake in Katwe (in the far western part of Uganda towards Congo) to collect salt, which could last for a year. This salt could be shared with neighbors and relatives or could be exchanged for other required items in the family. Once the salt reached home, its barter transaction was also mostly done by women in the home. I personally witnessed this salt exchange in the late 1960s, when as children we would take banana fibers to certain families that needed them for thatching their houses in exchange for this salt. As was already discussed, in Chapter 2, men remained central in the open market transactions, but they also, since the colonial period, controlled household financial systems in the monetary economy (Kirunda-Kivejinja, 1995). Therefore, while the use of money increased men’s power to purchase goods for the home and their control of family resources, it reduced the barter trade system and the power of women over resource control and use. Additionally, while women’s empowerment strategies have increased the number of women in the monetary economy through educational careers and IGA/Ps, they have not addressed people’s attitudes and perceptions in a way that improves gender working relations and atmosphere. In the following section, I will present women’s shared experiences in public transactions as a form of their empowerment strategy.

5.3.1 Women, public work environment and empowerment implications According to the existing literature, the concerns for feminists have always been with the discrimination of women from public activities or the dichotomy of activities in a gendered manner (ACFODE, 2007; Bahiigwa et al., 2005; European Commission, 2012). Against this background, empowerment efforts tend to take an inclusive approach regarding places and activities that have long been a no-go zone for women. My findings indicate that even when women are included in public space activities, they are still faced with gender-discriminative working conditions and a gender-discriminative atmosphere. The interviewees and FGD participants reveal that the community’s perceptions of women in public space activities are still negative, despite the financial constraints in most families. Although the number of women in public and distant marketing businesses (i.e., transporting food items and second-hand clothes on lorries, leading the women to spend long hours outside their homes) is increasing, there are mixed feelings of criticism and sympathy for women engaged in such types of work. For instance, on the one hand, the perception of about 75 percent of FGD participants and married women interviewees revealed that such married

152 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level women are considered desperate, with no better option in life. Demeaning descriptions of such married women, like akehwaho (she gave up on herself), nink’efakazi or nyamwandu (as if she is a widow), were given as common criticisms in reference to them. On the other hand, there were exclamations expressing perceptions of sympathy, pity, shame and mercy, such as n’omureeba naku or akagwerwa akagwe (she is unfortunate or ill-fated). Additionally, there were also indications of blame or condemnation of the women, such as being endeme and omuyayi (unruly, sly and deceitful) in reference to her pride or arrogance in wanting to “make and have it all”, thereby demeaning her husband; as for her being treated badly by her husband, some said “She deserves it, let her suffer”. Moreover, some 70 percent of almost 80 interviewed married women who were themselves engaged in these out-of-home public space IGA/Ps showed discomfort with their business activities. For instance, there were common phrases from the interviewed married women like n’okushoberwa, n’enaku and n’ekikutungire (I have no option, I do it because I must do it, it is where my survival comes from). Thus, they are only motivated by the economic gains to continue with these “empowering” activities. However, some 20 percent of the married women interviewees mentioned that, despite all the challenges, it is better to have businesses of their own (such as second-hand clothes in rotational markets, food stall items, bars) through which they can earn and support their families rather than to continue looking up to their husbands who cannot support the family alone. But all of them revealed that if they had a good education with professional jobs or if their husbands’ incomes were good enough, they would not be involved in such activities. Moreover, about 50 percent of the FGD participants and married women interviewees also expressed appreciation and astonishment for women being in public space IGA/Ps, saying omukazi nk’ogwe n’emanzi (such a woman is brave). It is important to note that not all public space women’s activities were scorned. As argued and explained in the FGDs, the disdained public activities for muk’omushaija (someone’s wife) are the heavy ones requiring a lot of lifting energy, working under the sun, activities demanding bargaining and the use of rough language, those on lorry transportation and being outside their homes for long hours. Accordingly almost all participants (FGD participants, married women interviewees, key informants, institutional leaders and separated women) shared that there are condemnations and disrespect for stay-at-home husbands (unless they are disabled) whose wives take the lead in open market activities and family responsibilities, including decision-making. In the FGDs about 80

Women’s economic empowerment and decision-making in the family 153 percent of the participants argued that since women’s economic power would eventually result in such a situation, society tends to underrate a man whose wife is in the open market business, making the husband less popular and less of a public figure compared to the wife. The participants reasoned that a man’s social acceptability and capability as omushaija omu bashaija (a man among other men and society) is seen as being threatened and his family headship is being questioned by remarks such as Nimushaija ki ogwe orikureebererwa nari okwatireirwe omukazi (What type of a “man” is it that depends on a woman)? To emphasize their resentment of a situation where a man is known to survive on a wife’s efforts and decisions, several married men during FGDs clearly pronounced their negative attitude by swearing ninkafe, nikikabure, (over my dead body, I would rather be dead than to be under a woman’s control). Such marital and family relations where a woman is known to take care of the family when the husband is alive are detested by men and women alike. Besides, for married women, it is seen as a family shame and judged as a woman’s foolishness to expose her husband’s shortfalls and/or to be known to have been married by an incapable husband. Based on such perceptions, married women prefer to cover up and protect or accommodate their husband’s decisions to avoid public humiliation of their husband’s and family’s status. Indeed, throughout the FGDs and interviews, women continuously used expressions like Otangambira omushaija arikuburabura, arikugaywa abantu, n’ekihemu ky’eka (Don’t tell me, a husband who has no confidence and self- esteem, or who is belittled in society, it is a total family disgrace). In actual fact, about 90 percent of women participants, professionals and housewives, rural and urban alike, revealed that they find self-satisfaction in maintaining their husband’s status high. The elite married women that I interviewed termed it as keeping him in “a shadow status”, for the sake of sustaining family and public relations. One woman lawyer who was interviewed explained and argued that:

A husband’s low socio-economic status pulls down a successful wife in her own achievements. Therefore, it is better to keep the husband in a ‘high shadow status’ to remain socially respectable in society […] and, at least, to remain cherished by his children as a sensible parent. Moreover, it gives them confidence and self-esteem. (Married woman lawyer, Mbarara, 2009)

According to the interviewee, it is better to keep the husband in a “high shadow status” in order for him to remain socially respectable in society. This is more

154 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level important since having a husband with low socio-economic status pulls down a successful wife in her own achievements. The expectation that it is best to keep husbands in a “high shadow status” and that deviating from this principle might result in pulling down a woman’s success implies that married women look at their husbands’ well-being as an incentive and means for their own empowerment. Moreover, in the last sentence the interviewee says that by maintaining a husband’s status he will remain cherished by his children, which gives the children confidence and self- esteem. Thus the well-being of her husband and her children are a priority as a married woman and a mother. With that opinion from highly socially, economically and legally sensitive married women, one can get a general perception of other women with limited understandings of the law and with lower status in society and in their families. Similar to the lawyer’s explanation, several interviewed married women in high civil service positions shared that even though it is common practice in the area under investigation to explicitly introduce and distinguish important guests attending a public or party function, their presence is ignored and they are never introduced for recognition unless they are in attendance of the functions with their husbands. One of the professional married woman interviewees shared that:

In the public functions that I attend with my husband, I am introduced as “Mrs. or wife of so and so”, sometimes mentioning or leaving out my own qualifications and profession. When I attend these functions without him, it is as if I am not noticed; usually I am ignored completely. [shyly] It hurts me, as if my identity only comes through my husband, despite my own attained qualifications and status. For that reason, I rarely attend gatherings without him. (Married woman, Ntungamo, 2009)

In relation to how husbands have been kept in a “high shadow status” for the sake of women’s own self-satisfaction, one of the married women from high political circles explained that:

When I am going out with my husband to meet some friends and colleagues, I give him the money in advance, to pay for some of the drinks we would take. Otherwise, he would be degraded amongst my colleagues and our friends. [with pride in her eyes] I mean […] he is a man; he has to be seen pulling money from his own wallet. It gives him and me pleasure, confidence and self-esteem in relating with my colleagues, and he has

Women’s economic empowerment and decision-making in the family 155

always appreciated this gesture. Besides, if not treated with such respect, he may refuse to accompany me or he may even stop me from going out with my colleagues. (Married woman, Ibanda, 2009)

In summary, based on the shared experiences of participants, I note that married women’s decisions are largely influenced by public opinions and perceptions that maintain the traditional and socio-economically constructed higher position of men above women, and that this has not changed, irrespective of whether these women live in rural or urban areas and irrespective of their level of schooling. My data do not show public resentment against married women that operate their projects within their homesteads or in the civil service employment sector. However, the society, women themselves and husbands have reservations about women in public, open space activities that keep them outside their homes for long hours. Furthermore, the public attitude towards married women engaged in public areas of operation and in types of business termed “shameful” has remained a challenge to the attainment of a free environment for women’s economic empowerment. From the information shared, I conclude that the tradition of keeping married women out of the public domain from hard and heavy work remains the norm and is an explanation for persistent resentment and resistance to women in public transactions. It is worth noting that women’s empowerment strategies are implemented by the government and civil societies alike without consideration of people’s reservations and attachment to their cultural practices. Also, other studies show that such tendencies and resistance remain hindrances to demystifying the dichotomy in gendered roles within the family structure and public areas of operation and consequently decision-making relations at the household level (Lakwo, 2007; Mushemeza, 2009). In conclusion, therefore, despite increasing numbers of women in IGA/Ps, as a consequence of the persistent unfavorable working atmosphere and high protection accorded to the husband’s status in the family and society as a whole, women’s empowerment has remained unattain- able at the household level.

5.3.2 Women’s additional obligations and empowerment implications Economic empowerment as an inclusion strategy has constraints, especially related to the additional amount of workload that it leads to for women. Women in formal or informal employment are expected to balance multiple responsibilities, which remains difficult, especially for those who work outside their homes and for long hours or days. For instance, almost 95 percent of the

156 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level married women interviewees and FGD participants note that in addition to the IGA/P or formal work demands, women continue with the usual domestic or housework chores. Contrary to this workload practice, my study, in line with other studies like Kyomuhendo and McIntosh (2006) and Lakwo (2007), makes clear that husbands in formal employment or businesses outside the home have totally or partially excluded themselves from domestic labor activities. Al- though there are hired laborers to assist in the domestic work, women remain entirely responsible for the day-to-day production activities of the projects, either in supervision or in doing physical work themselves. For instance, FGD participants and married women interviewees were asked to assess gender roles in IGAs in order to verify production activities and decision-making gender relations in the operations and outcomes. The summary findings are shown in Table 5.2, in reference to a gender perspective of production activities, women’s economic empowerment and increased task overload, which further constrains married women’s work routine relative to their husbands.

Table 5.2 Gender perspectives of work routines in IGA/Ps

Production level activities Males Females Reasons given for the gender division Boys Husb. Girls Wife of responsibility in work routines Activities in rural areas Ownership of cows, goats, √ About 65 percent of the projects are piggery, beekeeping, owned by wives as members of poultry government-supported women’s groups. About 60 percent of the projects are owned as women-initiated but run as family projects. Almost 40 percent are owned and run by women with financial support from their husbands. Another 45 percent are owned through women’s own savings and/or loans. Building of sheds for √ √ Building is men’s work, requires a lot goats, cows or poultry or of physical energy. boxes for bees Harvesting of honey √ √ √ Women fear stings of bees and men are said to be adventurous and courageous; some women harvest their honey where there is no other option. Cutting the grass for the √ √ Boys are hired; also sons in the home animals do it. It requires stamina and energy; the wife does it when the boys are not available.

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Putting water or food in √ √ √ This is relatively easy work and also containers for birds includes continuous monitoring of birds and egg collection. Grazing of animals out of √ Hired boys and/or sons. Requires a lot the house in the evenings, of running after the animals in the bush and free-range grazing for in the sun and heat; girls usually do not those with some land risk going to the bushes alone, i.e., they are protected from men who may take advantage of them. Cleaning of the sheds √ √ √ √ Hired boys do it, and it is considered a dirty and strenuous job. Family members sometimes participate as well and occasionally some husbands also do the cleaning. Cooking for the pigs √ √ √ Hired boys do it or the pigs eat leftover foods from the general family cooking done by women. Medication for the √ √ √ Hired boys do it together with the wife animals/birds and extension workers. Some husbands help to consult extension workers. Coordination with √ √ Because of hardships in transportation extension workers means and to give the impression that it’s a family project (public image for husbands) some men do it, but women normally do it for themselves. Activities in urban areas Peeling, cooking, serving √ √ √ Girls are hired to assist women owners customers in hotels, and in activities of the hotels, saloons or customer care in saloons or bars. Girls are said to have an bars advantage over boys in enticing customers, especially in bars. Carrying of second-hand √ √ √ Boys and sometimes girls are hired to clothes from and back to fold displayed clothes and carry them stores to stores. This is in cases of open markets (akatare). Selling of new and second- √ √ √ Women practically do everything. hand clothes in stalls, Boys are hired to advertise and kiosks or open markets convince customers (okwetereza) to come to the stalls, while girls help in negotiating and sometimes receiving the money. Girls are noted to be trusted with money more than boys, even in cases of hotels and bars. Source: Married women interviewees and participants of FGDs conducted between 2006 and 2009

From Table 5.2 it can be noted that women work independently of their husbands in urban activities at the production level, especially in so-called

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“women’s activities” (food production). From the reasons that are given for the dichotomy or division of project activities for women and men, women’s inequality based on socially constructed gender biases at the production level is still evident in both rural and urban women’s IGAs. Additionally, comparing the activities that men and women are engaged in shows that a bigger percentage of production activities are in the hands of women, children or hired workers, which is an indication of gendered task imbalances. From this analysis, it is evident that women’s IGAs form an additional workload atop their usual expected domestic responsibilities. Additionally, during the FGDs in the three urban research sites, it was noted that while about 35 percent of 30 male participants support their wives in the day-to-day running of their projects (for example, transporting items from production places to market places, giving protection to their wives, especially in activities that continue in the night such as serving food and drinks) and while other husbands jointly work with their wives, as in joint or homestead family projects, a majority (65 percent) of 30 male urban participants indicated that they would not want to be involved or associated with “women’s activities”. The common term used throughout interviews and FGDs was egyo n’emiromo y’ekikyara or y’abakazi (those are feminine or women’s tasks). These activities, such as peeling, cooking and serving food, selling of second- hand clothes and selling of local drinks to customers are socially defined to be for women.26 With empathy, one of the male participants expressed that:

At least if these customers were men only, I would not mind; but me, the son of […]! How can I prepare meals and serve women in the markets? [i.e., in the public space] (Male FGD participant, Ntungamo, 2008)

There is resistance to having a husband engaged in feminine activities, not only in public space, but also in serving not only fellow men but also women. This man’s comment starts with self-pity, in “At least if these customers were men only.” Based on the social systems and hierarchical structure of Ankore, the man sees himself as somebody who should not serve women, who are categorized below other customers. His ego comes before any dire financial need in the home. I observed that his facial expression while talking caused laughter from other participants, men and women alike, as a way of confirming

26 This should not be confused with big executive hotels that hire male chefs. Here, reference is made to urban (open or closed space) hotels of low-income families serving food as a means of survival. In most of these hotels women do all the work and hired labor is limited in order to maximize the expected profits.

Women’s economic empowerment and decision-making in the family 159 and supporting what he shared. While men’s expressed challenges are associated with a loss of self-pride, self-worth and self-importance, most women’s concerns on the contrary are not with themselves, but with their husbands and families’ public image. For instance, over 85 percent of the interviewed married women and female FGD participants expressed that the dilemma of women is dismay and stigma from the humiliating status of their husbands, which determines their own social and family status. Culturally, as already seen in Chapters 2 and 4, in Ankore, being married for a woman remains a great accomplishment on its own. Furthermore, the social status of the man that she marries is even more important, not only for the husband but also for the woman as the wife of a valued person. Thus, the sense of self-worth of a woman is derived from or improves with the social status of her husband as someone valuable and respectable in society, and not necessarily through her own financial capabilities. Although such a perception is partly an attribute of obuntu (deriving one’s happiness from the well-being of the other), the thinking is based more on the hierarchical male-female family structure and systems of traditional family relations. If it were not, men would be having equal and similar sentiments towards their wives, which was doubted by almost 75 percent of the married women interviewees and FGD participants. However, almost 90 percent of the married women interviewees and female FGD participants expressed that they would not want their husbands to get involved in emirimo y’abakazi (activities meant for women), particularly in the public space. The main worry seemed to be with the public opinion at a cost of working alone in order to protect the family name through the protected status of the husband as the head of the family. For example, one hotel woman in the open market explained that she didn’t want her husband to be underrated by other women just because they needed money. Nevertheless, although most husbands and men are not involved at the production level of IGA/Ps, they are supportive and actively involved at the marketing level of the women’s or family projects. This is clearly shown from the data on marketing activities based on interviews with 120 married women interviewees and 60 FGDs in rural areas (between 2006 and 2009).

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Table 5.3 Gender perspectives in marketing activities in different projects

Marketing of products Husband Wife Reasons given for division of labor Sale of milk/eggs/honey at √ √ This is small money, and 100 percent of the home women handle the transactions. Men are usually not at home to attend to day-to-day transactions. Almost 60 percent of 40 married women and 20 FGDs participants in those activities mentioned that husbands are also involved. Transport of √ √ Wives in Ankore do not ride bicycles. Most milk/eggs/honey to towns families have one car or bicycle usually owned by men. Sometimes boys can deliver the goods to the established customers. Hired boys are usually not trusted with cash from customers, so husbands collect it afterwards. Women themselves also deliver their products to customers, where there are better means of transport available. Sale of goats/pigs/cows at √ √ Wives can sell, but if it is a big sale, 75 home percent of 80 married women and 20 FGD participants explained that the money goes to the bank immediately, so the husband needs to be present. Besides, about 80 percent mentioned that men have high bargaining powers for better pay of the animals being sold and are assumed to know market prices. The husband also needs to know the financial transactions in his family. Moreover, about 85 percent said that some customers totally refuse or hesitate to deal with wives on family property in the absence of the husband, and more so in the homes. Also, about 85 percent involve husbands to keep the family’s public image in accordance with the social norm, so the husband maintains his status. Sale of goats/pigs/cows in √ The same reasons as above. the markets/open places Source: 120 rural married women interviewees and 60 FGDs, conducted between 2006 and 2009

From Table 5.3 and the reasons given for the division of labor, it can be noted that marketing and sales of project outcomes done in the homes is largely performed by women, while the out-of-home sales are largely handled by husbands. Moreover, certain items (livestock) for bigger sales are also left to or sold in the presence of husbands.

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5.3.3 Women’s market economy participation and empowerment implications According to Table 5.3, married women are excluded from livestock sales in public places. Also the husband or males are more involved in the urban sales and marketing of the IGA/Ps, products than they are in production activities (see Table 5.2). About 75 percent of 80 rural married women interviewees and 20 FGD participants expressed that they market and sell their proceeds from their IGAs at the household level, especially in rural areas. It is husbands who are usually engaged in trade transactions outside the homes and in the local communities, thus putting them in intermediary positions between their wives and the markets. As such, husbands have continued not only to dominate the sales of products from women’s projects in distant or market places, but also to benefit financially from women’s disadvantages in the market economy. From the given reasons for the division of labor, married women’s control over their products from rural IGAs (milk, vegetables, eggs, birds and honey) is curtailed by occupational marketing disparities. According to about 80 percent of the married women interviewees and FGD participants, the reasons for such gender perspectives at the marketing level depend not only on how the project was started (i.e., government program, social grouping, individual and personal initiatives or couples’ self-realization, as discussed in Section 5.2) but also on the location of the projects, rural or urban. The given reasons include: ˗ Husband’s accessibility to better sales in urban places; almost 80 percent of 120 rural women mentioned that towns or trading centers are far from the villages, especially when one expects better prices than if one sells the items within the village. ˗ Cultural norms; almost 90 percent of rural women expressed that men can easily ride bicycles on the bad roads, whereas married women are not expected and generally do not know how to ride bicycles. ˗ At the production level, the IGA/Ps require constant presence to monitor and prepare grass and water for the zero-grazing cows and goats and food for poultry and pigs. About 80 percent of rural women mentioned that it takes long hours to and from the markets. So women cannot afford to be away for fear of the consequential losses that may arise at the production level. ˗ For shared responsibilities, over 85 percent of married women in rural and urban areas who jointly run projects choose to leave the marketing work to husbands, except for about 30 percent of women who had had been manipulated by their husbands diverting or misusing the sales, resulting in mistrust.

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˗ About 70 percent of the interviewed married women involve their husband to win his commitment to the project but also to respect his lead headship position and his status in the family and public opinion.

Another adverse implication of women’s economic empowerment that was mentioned is the risk of looming food shortages. During the FGDs, particularly in rural sites, participants explained that whereas women’s empowerment is seen as a means of economic home improvement (in terms of improved family health care, education of the children, home environment and acquisition of some basic necessities), it has deteriorated food security for the households since most of the time the outcomes are sold immediately to get money. The argument was that the obtained money cannot cover the family needs including the re-purchase of foods from markets at doubled costs. Moreover, deteriora- ting food security in the homes was noted to mostly affect women and their children. For instance, according to about 75 percent of key informants, FGD participants and married women interviewees, it is a known habit for most men to buy and eat food in urban or market places, sometimes even when they have left no food in the home. With such behavior, a man survives food insecurity in the home but at the cost of the other family members. Because it is socially condemned behavior, it was argued that it is an unlikely practice for a woman and a mother to buy and eat food alone in the marketplace. Moreover, over 60 percent of married woman interviewees and FGD participants shared some known adverse experiences where husbands have used women’s profits or capital aftermarket sales for their personal advantage. For instance, some men have taken on new wives, while others purchased vehicles, commercial plots, pieces of land and buildings and registered them in their own personal names, excluding their wives that worked hard on the IGA/Ps to raise the money. Additionally, almost 75 percent of FGD participants expressed that sometimes, the IGA/Ps such as zero-grazing of one cow or a few goats and keeping poultry are time-consuming and not cost-effective in terms of financial gains. Moreover, while goat projects were introduced to Ankore families not only for sale or meat but also for the goats’ nutritional milk and health advantages, over 95 percent of married women interviewees and FGD participants held a negative attitude towards it. In the FGDs (in pastoral and agricultural study sites alike), about 70 percent of participants expressed that as there is abundant cows’ milk in the region, there is no need to drink goats’ milk and as such there is no market for it. Furthermore, over 80 percent of married women interviewees and FGD participants expressed that usually the cows from the

Women’s economic empowerment and decision-making in the family 163 government programs or NGOs are not as highly productive in terms of milk as they are expected to be. In addition, the exotic cows and birds are less resistant to local conditions and hence require a lot of attention and medication and are expensive to maintain for the intended women beneficiaries. Moreover, in the long run, these projects are usually done almost at the expense of other activities, such as food crop production activities for family food security, as previously discussed. From the given reasons of gender perspectives in marketing activities, the socio-cultural and historically created male dominance and biases that discriminate against women in the public space and urban market transactions are still evident. However, my study notes that women in urban IGA/Ps are relatively in a better position than rural women in the marketing and financial transactions of their products due to constraints in means of transport and proximity to banks, shopping and marketing places. Finally, with about 75 percent of husbands in the middle-man position in the marketing process of their wives’ IGA/Ps, it can be concluded that husbands have benefited from the outcomes of the women’s economic empowerment efforts more than their wives.

5.3.4 Women’s incomes valued as means to other goals From the existing literature, there is a general belief that businesses and incomes controlled by women are successful and valuable to others (ACFODE, 2006; Snyder, 2000). My personal observation and analysis of shared experiences of the interviewed married women reveal the same trend. Consequently, there is great value attached to women’s economic empowerment as a means to family welfare improvement, including family nutritional feeding habits, home facilities, hygiene and health, children’s education and the general well-being of family members (The Republic of Uganda, 2010; UNDP, 2012c). However, the pertinent argument for my study related to women’s economic empowerment is that it is expected to diminish gender inequalities and discrimination, in the long run (UNDP, 2012a, 2012c). My research question, whether increasing opportunities for women’s incomes have improved their decision-making possibilities relative to their husbands’ at the household level, is very significant here. To answer the above assumptions and expectations of value attached to women’s incomes, I use several accounts given by FGDs participants and interviewed married women. Below is one of the experiences given by a married woman working in a second-hand clothes project:

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This business started as a joint venture and family business. Because the starting capital came from the sale of our two cows, my husband was in control of the business […]. [silence] Slowly, business sales, profits and stock were declining. Fortunately, he also lost interest and slowly gave up, but also advised me to stop bothering myself with the useless business that meant nothing to the family. I insisted and continued with the “useless” business. His decreased interest and monitoring gave me an opportunity to reorganize and take full control of its ownership [said with a delighted face]. When I took loans from our traders’ association and improved the stock and incomes, he tried to come back, but I refused and denied him the chance of knowing my transactions [with brightness on her face]. He gave up the idea and this second-hand business is now at my discretion to plan for and decide on what to do with the sales. (Married woman in second- hand clothes business, Ntungamo, 2009)

As already noted by studies in other areas (Lakwo, 2007; Snyder, 2000), there are several noticeable successful businesses and projects controlled by women. However, there is great value that is attached to women’s incomes for the good of the family and as a means to reach other family goals without necessarily improving women’s own decision-making. To analyze whether married women’s control of economic activities improves their welfare and their position in decision-making relative to their husbands at the household level, it was necessary to do a situational comparative analysis of empowerment gains from the participating women’s own perspectives. The analysis was done through observation during home visits and opinions of married women interviewees and FGD participants. A few illustrative responses by four interviewed women are presented in Table 5.4. The interviewees were selected based on the similarities of their experiences with those given by other interviewed married women in the different IGA/Ps in different localities in the area under investigation.

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Table 5.4 Family benefits and wife’s possibilities in decision-making

Situation before IGA Situation in the family after Decision-making relations and IGA given reasons 1. We lacked most basics in the Even if we have not gotten The attained resources belong home: plates, kitchenware, everything that we need, we are to the family (n’ebintu by’eitu bedding; sugar was a dream in now better; hati twine twena). I cannot simply lend our home. We would obugambiro (we can also talk them out without his consent!! occasionally have meat, in public). We no longer He needs to know before I give especially when we got borrow household items when them out so that in case they visitors. Gamanywa embeba!!! we get visitors. I now have get spoiled from lending them [a common proverb, implying most of the home items. out, he can add a man’s voice that the list is endless and only in having them repaired or resident rats know the details replaced. Additionally he may of what prevails in the homes] need to use them, so he needs to know their whereabouts. Also, things done secretly may end up being lost. Supposing I get into problems that take me out of the home, my family would lose the property to those that borrowed it in privacy. [seriously looking at me] Egyo n’emicwe mibi, niwe n’okimanya (It is bad manners, you also know it) [referring to lending out or doing things secretly, without the husband’s knowledge]. (Interviewee in cow zero-grazing business, Nsiika, 2008) 2. Clothing was a very big But now I am very okay. [with I do not need permission to challenge in this home: I used smiles showing me her clothes, lend out my personal to avoid public places, even shoes, hand bags, and clothes belongings, although he usually going to my natal home, for her children] I can now complains that it is not a good whenever there were functions, lend out to friends … some practice to share clothes with for fear of feeling out of place. who used to laugh at me and other women. He is normally I hated going to my parents’ those that are in my previous happy with the choice of home empty-handed condition. I also buy for my clothes that I buy for him. He (engarosha), and this was very husband, my children and my does not stop me from going to painful, especially when I had parents. And I go to my natal see my parents, but I cannot go to look after my husband’s home more often these days. I without informing him and… parents and relatives. contribute to their well-being; I why shouldn’t I? He does not am a child among other want me to spend a night there, children. We are now people unless I am with him, except amongst others. when they are sick and they need my help. I make personal decisions on what to take to them. He does not need to know what I have carried.

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Sometimes, he contributes to what I take to them. (Interviewee in second-hand clothes business, Ibanda, 2007) 3. My children would often be I now take care of my I make decisions on the well- dismissed from school due to children’s well-being. I pay being of my children, lack of required items. I would fees, buy them clothes, shoes, (education, health, home be miserable and downcast. school bags, and uniforms upkeep) because I have the Because [silence] had I gone to (sometimes against their capacity now. Even when their school, personally, I would not father’s wish; that I waste father does not contribute, I do be like this. I really would see money and pamper my children it because these are my the fate of my children is likely too much). Now their children. (Interviewee in hotel to be like mine. performance has also business, Ihunga-Ntungamo, improved. [full of smiles, 2009) showing me some progressive report cards, all children were promoted] 4. We had a mud and wattle [full of smiles] This house we The house is residential, built house with a leaking roof. are in now is my sweat. I on my husband’s ancestral and Whenever it rained, especially [pointing to herself] physically inherited land. … It is ours, we at night, we would all stand in prepared soil for brick-making. built it together. Of course, if one corner where it was not I belong to several money- my husband chased me away leaking, and my children would saving associations where we today, I would leave the house fall sick quite often. contribute monthly for an behind. I cannot go with it individual. I also subscribe to [with a sullen face] and my several revolving fund groups energy would be wasted. But I where I can borrow money; my hope for the best, because we husband, too, has associations, have no problems, so far. so we worked together. (Interviewee in poultry and crop farming, Isingiro, 2009) Source: Shared experiences from married women interviewees in different activities and localities of study area (2006-2009)

Based on the quotes from the interviewees in Table 5.4, it can be concluded that previously, there was generally a lack of basics (i.e., food, clothes, education of children, houses, etc.) in the participating families that has improved with the women’s participation in IGA/Ps. There are tangible and intangible gains for the women and their families from the IGA/Ps, which act as the married women’s motivation to work even more. Women themselves attach great value to their income’s effects on the socio-economic well-being of the family members, from which they derive social and psychological satisfaction, confidence and self-esteem. This form of “empowerment” has been achieved through the use of women’s gained incomes to address other family members’ (children, husband, their parents and relatives) and neighbors’ needs. As Kabeer (1999b) notes, women’s empowerment is realized at different levels (group or individual, national, society or household). According to Kabeer

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(1999a, 2005), prima facie, without considering exploitation or manipulative implications, this form of value attached to women’s incomes can be termed as their empowerment, since there is implicit and explicit satisfaction as mentioned by the women themselves (see Table 5.4). However, based on socio- economic levels and cultural differences, even within societies, families and individuals, women’s empowerment ought to be understood beyond similarities of general women’s discrimination and gender inequalities in consideration of these contextual differences. For instance, interviewee 1 in Nsiika (see Table 5.4) mentions that lending out family assets or personal belongings without informing the husband is “bad manners” in her context and that of Ankore families. As Kabeer (1999a, 2005) put it, while a practice of lending out family assets or personal belongings without informing the husband may be interpreted as a measure of women’s empowerment in the form of autonomy and freedom, especially if this has not been the case previously; the Nsiika shared experience refers to it as bad manners, and knowing that I am part of the Ankore society, she emphasized that I should know that. Furthermore, as married women in Ankore families do not live an isolated life independent of their children, husband, parents, relatives, in-laws and neighbors/community, there are always implications on the use and values attached to women’s gained incomes in consideration of other people. Considerably, the capacity women gained to solve their children’s and family’s needs, plus giving out to relatives and friends from their incomes, which previously was not the case (see interviewee 2 in Table 5.4), brings some form of married women’s empowerment in Ankore families. However, when we go further to evaluate the implications of the attained capacity to solve family needs, women’s incomes remain means to other goals than married women’s own perspectives and shared experiences. There is evidence of inequalities relative to husbands, sometimes with hidden motives or exploitation and manipulation effects, as presented in the coming section.

5.3.5 Women’s empowerment: Exploitation and manipulation effects According to several interviewees and FGD participants, all the IGA/Ps are owned by the married women and they also do most of the production activities (see Section 5.2.1). Furthermore, from Table 5.2 it is noted that after production it is mostly the husbands that market and sell the rural projects’ products, usually in urban places, where better prices are offered as compared to rural or home-based sales. Since most banks are situated in towns, banking and withdrawing as well as shopping for family necessities from the urban centers, especially after sales, is also done by men (see Table 5.3). Therefore,

168 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level based on the life experiences shared, this chapter confirms tendencies for husbands to benefit more than wives from the outcomes of women’s incomes or family projects. Talking from an insider’s viewpoint, although there is no law that prohibits women from riding bicycles or motorcycles, I can state that it is not the norm for married women in Ankore to do so. Moreover, from the married women interviewees’ and FGDs participants’ shared opinions, it is a surprise to the public to see a married woman in the marketplace selling family items other than food, such as livestock. The common questions and concerns are: Aine iba? (Does she have a husband? Is he aware of what is going on?); or Iba noha! nari n’omukazi w’oha? (Who is the husband or whose wife?). For public opinion concerns, over 60 percent of the women themselves, especially in rural areas, said that they request their husbands to do the marketing and sales of the produce in the open marketplaces, except in instances where the husband has proved crafty and devious. For instance, one of the interviewed married women with a piggery project (2008), when asked why she does not take her pigs for sale in the market, responded with the question: Bishi mba nyamwandu? (Is my husband dead?). Similarly, another married woman in a goat project (2008) argued [sarcastically]: Shana ndi efakazi!! (Maybe, I am widowed). Therefore, in most cases, women prefer and ask their husbands to do the selling or to accompany them in the public transactions either due to poor means of transport to urban centers and or for public image and impressions about their family relations. However, in some instances, after sales some husbands have channeled or put their wives’ money to their personal use. One of the personal experiences shared by a married woman in an urban project is given as follows:

He kept taking the money [day’s earnings] and I knew he was banking it via our joint account. […] At the beginning of the term, instead of withdrawing the money for children’s requirements and also servicing the bank loan, he said that he had lent the money to a friend who does not have it at the moment. I borrowed money from my friends and serviced the loan. Later on when I reminded him to pester his friend to return our money so we could clear our children’s school dues, he became cruel and violent. He started coming home late, refused meals at home […]. Eventually rumors came to me that he has a woman for whom he hired a shop in the trading center […]. I lost a lot of money and yet I had to clear the loan and the borrowed money. (Married woman in hotel business, Mbarara, 2008)

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She is not alone, and several examples were cited during the FGDs to emphasize husbands’ behavior that has become common, in which several wives have been manipulated, in urban and rural projects alike. Such manipulative practices with women’s incomes tend to improve the capital base for the husband to serve his selfish and hidden motives at the cost of the wife’s efforts and attempts for economic empowerment. Consequently, some women have had to hide their projects and investments in order to keep control of their incomes. My study noted that to a small extent there are some married women who are directly involved in the marketing and in control of their incomes and salary (for those in professional formal employment). Furthermore, while almost 80 percent of the married women have successfully reduced dependence on the husband and are “in control of their incomes”, most of the working married women spend their income by shouldering or meeting all or most of the family expenses, while husbands put their savings towards their personal investments or interests. During the FGDs, over 90 percent of 60 husbands but also about 60 percent of 50 women strongly argued that omukazi yakiza omushaija sente t’akumushwera (a man cannot successfully marry a woman who has more money than him). They explained that when a woman gets more money than the husband, there is disharmony and disruption of the socially ordered hierarchy, which threatens a husband’s status in the home. Moreover, almost 85 percent of married women interviewees indicated that their husbands deliberately or unconsciously make sure that their income is spent on specific family items or requirements as soon as it is obtained. Although the Bank of Uganda treasury requires employees to have individual personal accounts and although salaried married women do have personal accounts, the interviewed professional women in different civil services are no better off than those in IGA/Ps. Talking generally in a third- person position during the FGDs, about 40 percent of professional married women interviewees revealed that their husbands have devised means of accessing their wives’ incomes and monitoring their expenditures. About 60 percent of professional married women interviewees shared personal experiences similar to those indicated below.

My husband insists on knowing the secret pin number in order to have access to the money whenever he needs it. I give him my ATM card to keep peace […]. (Married woman professional, Bushenyi, 2008)

My husband insists on being updated or informed of every transaction that I do on my personal account and what I do with the withdrawn money. I

170 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

normally do that, and we have no problems in the home […]. (Married woman professional, Kiruhura, 2009)

We run separate personal accounts and my husband convinced me to have a joint account with him where we can both keep monthly savings for family investments. Both of us are signatories to it, but I have never withdrawn money from that account. I only deposit my monthly percentage in this account to keep peace in the home […]. (Married woman professional, Ntungamo, 2007)

My husband does not mind about my money transactions, only that I still spend it on the day-to-day expenses, which he totally abandoned and left to me […]. (Married woman professional, Isingiro, 2007)

Over 85 percent of married women in the professional and informal employment sectors, rural and urban alike, shared similar experiences where men have stopped fending for or contributing to the family’s well-being because a wife has an income. The married men during the FGDs confirmed the assertions that the basics in the homes are mostly cared for by the wives. Below are some of the findings from the FGDs with married men: ˗ About 65 percent of 60 husbands expressed that some women want to prove that they can provide for the families, so they let them do it. ˗ With existing poverty constraints and government or NGO programs targeting women, almost 85 percent of the husbands in rural and urban areas alike explained that currently women with IGA/Ps have more money than men, especially the husbands that are not in the formal employment sector, and therefore they should care for the family needs. ˗ About 60 percent of the husbands noted that some women work to benefit their natal homes and relatives at the cost of their marital families, so that is one way of controlling such motives. ˗ Almost 55 percent of the husbands expressed that unless such a mechanism is used, some women are wasteful, as they simply use their money on themselves, saloons and clothes and not on essentials in the home. ˗ Some 30 percent of the husbands mentioned that since women use the husband’s premises (men’s home, ancestral land) without any rental fee (for rural projects) and time off when they should be at home caring for the husband, children and household chores, as a married woman, they should spend their income as compensation.

Women’s economic empowerment and decision-making in the family 171

˗ Almost 40 percent of the husbands explained that if a woman is working and her family cannot benefit from her income, then she should stay at home.

In these circumstances, married women do not have many options but to spend most of their incomes on the family needs, where the husband’s welfare is usually included, at the cost of the woman’s priority needs referred to as “being wasteful”, in relation to the husband’s preferences. Under such control circumstances, FGD participants noted that although married women’s incomes may be increasing, they do not claim to make informed decisions on how and where to spend their gains. My study notes that to a large extent, husbands have remained influential and major decision-makers on how their wife’s and the family’s incomes should be utilized.

5.4 Conclusions

Starting from the meanings of empowerment dealt with in Chapter One, I formulated a working definition of married women’s empowerment in the context of Ankore family relations as: the process and outcomes of the efforts of women and men (as partners), playing complementary roles in family activities and decisions regarding the use and control of family resources, taking the lead (individually and collectively) to change existing power relations in the family structure and in society that disadvantage them and that they have reasons to change. My conclusions are therefore based on the expectation that women’s economic empowerment outcomes will improve their decision-making possibilities relative to their husbands’. The focus is on whether gender perspectives of responsibilities at production and marketing levels and family resource ownership, use and control have improved. I further note that in the course of Ankore married women’s economic empowerment, urban or rural, home-based or in public space projects, schooled or not, the women seem to protect the status of their husbands and consider the well-being of their children and relatives above their own well-being in marital and family relations. I indicate that in most cases married women own projects as their IGAs. Additionally, they own production activities, irrespective of these activities taking place in urban or rural location, being home-based or in the public and being the result of government programs, social groups’ influence, or personal or self-initiated efforts of the married couple. However, to a large extent decisions on the use and control of outcomes have remained

172 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level with the husbands, except for the small number of cases where married women have taken personal initiatives to totally exclude their husbands from their projects. My study also found that although increasingly more married women are seen in IGAs, the environment in which they operate is still gender-discriminative, particularly in projects where women work outside their homes in the open markets and for long hours. Moreover, my study notes that due to cultural and public opinions, the majority of married women themselves, especially in rural areas, do not as yet appreciate autonomy in the marketing of their own proceeds and prefer to retain their husbands as middlemen, which constitutes an avenue for their economic exploitation and manipulation. There- fore, inaccessibility of married women to markets and control of their incomes tend to improve the husbands’ capital base and their social relations at the cost of women’s efforts and sweat. Furthermore, I note that in most cases, society, friends, parents and relatives have remained a big influence on women’s decision-making processes. My study also notes that married women’s projects’ outcomes have greatly improved the well-being of their families and households in terms of the attainment of basic needs and the quality of life, which were previously lacking, but their achievements have not necessarily improved gender relations and women’s decision-making possibilities relative to those of their husbands. My study found that there are no big differences in decision-making possibilities between married women working in formal professional sectors and in informal sectors, in urban or in rural areas, as similar experiences of manipulations were shared. For instance, their incomes, accumulated resources and their use, control and property rights have remained their husbands’ treasure and therefore a no-go zone for the majority of married women. I further note that women’s contribution to family needs is welcomed or seems to be liked, but that the control or ownership of their outcomes or making autonomous decisions independent of their husbands is not acceptable in Ankore family relations. To a smaller extent, however, I note that there are married women, schooled and unschooled alike, but especially in urban areas, who independently run and control their projects and incomes and to a greater extent make decisions on how to utilize their incomes and for what. Furthermore, these married women explained that they own properties they purchase with their own incomes, some of which they mentioned is known by their husbands, but to a greater extent it is not known. However, the majority of married women, urban and rural alike, disclosed that their husbands have distanced or totally withdrawn themselves

Women’s economic empowerment and decision-making in the family 173 from covering or contributing to family basics and household expenses. This study therefore reveals an indirect way of husbands’ persistent position of controlling and making decisions about how their wives should use their earned incomes. As part of decision-making, some women in rural and urban places have opted to separate from their husbands and live an independent life. Considering the circumstances shared by separated women interviewees under which they opt for single life (i.e., being tired of unresolved domestic violence), my study concludes that it has remained a big challenge to empower women within marital relations, where traditional social systems that govern marriage and family institution, considered insensitive to women, are still strong and binding (see also Chapter 4). Therefore, my study concludes that despite individual women’s, the government’s and NGOs’ efforts to single out women for their emancipation, and despite the increasing numbers of women in formal employment and IGA/Ps in rural and urban places and in their homes and public spaces, women’s economic empowerment through improved incomes has remained a means of improving family well-being without necessarily enhancing the position of married women relative to their husbands in decision-making at the household level. In contrast to my definition as a measure of women’s empowerment, the outcomes of women’s efforts have remained in the hands of their husbands. The expected outcome of husband and wife (as partners), playing complementary roles in family activities and decision-making in the use and control of family resources, has not been achieved. The presumed individual and collective efforts to change existing power relations in the family structure and in their working environment and societies’ opinions that disadvantage women have not been successful. As such, women’s empowerment in Ankore families has been acknowledged more in theory than in reality.

CHAPTER 6 Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes and resolutions of family conflicts

6.1 Introduction27

The government of Uganda adopted the inclusion of women in political decision-making positions to enhance the protection of women’s rights and equality to men (Tamale, 1993, 2003a). In addition, Uganda also adopted gender-sensitive strategies in its constitution (1995), in its Local Government Act (1997) and in its national planning programs, including amendments on land policy (The Republic of Uganda, 2010, 2011). It also granted autonomous working environments to CSOs and NGOs striving for women’s empowerment (Tripp, 2001; Tripp et al., 2009). Moreover, there are legal institutions in place, specifically constituted by the government for the protection of women, such as the family protection unit in the police, family courts of law and probation offices in each district. Additionally, there is FIDA (U), a non-governmental association that is privately run by Uganda Association of Women Lawyers and that intervenes in family relations problems through advocacy and by interpreting the law vis-à-vis the conflicting partners. Furthermore, to bring law and justice close to the people, the government “institutionalized” particular levels of the Local Councils, of which councils at levels 1 to 111 adjudicate local issues, including family-related conflicts (Mushemeza, 2009; The Republic of Uganda, 1997). Moreover, these councils have at least one third women members, as representatives of women’s interests. The focus of this chapter is on married women’s awareness and use of established legal institutions for women’s protection and on whether gender parity and women’s protection have been achieved in Ankore family relations. Consequently, the participants’ personal shared views, stories and experiences will illustrate the degree of success in women’s empowerment in family

27 An earlier version of (part of) this chapter was published as Murembe (2015). 176 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level relations, protection and well-being. The evaluation of women’s empowerment in this chapter is based on the survey questionnaire responses of 240 married people (men and women), the viewpoints of 20 separated women, 30 elderly key informants, 20 institutional leaders that deal with the protection of women and 240 married women that were interviewed and shared their own personal opinions and the experiences of those that they know, as well as viewpoints of the 110 married men and women that participated in the FGDs (see Chapter 3). This chapter therefore examines whether the strategies and institutions in place have improved the protection and position of women in family relations in Ankore families. It presents married people’s experiences of conflicts in their families. It explores the causes of conflicts and how they were resolved in the traditional Ankore context before discussing the current problems together with the new mechanisms that are applied and the implications on women in family relations. Finally, it gives the participants’ recommendations and the conclusions of the chapter.

6.2 Married couples and serious conflicts

People in Ankore have a saying that abatureine tibabura ntongane (people that live together cannot avoid quarreling), and in family relations where a husband, a wife and their relatives co-exist, conflicts normally happen. To explore the extent of conflicts and their management among married women in Ankore, 240 married spouses in a questionnaire were asked whether they have ever had serious conflicts. Table 6.1 contains their responses.

Table 6.1 Extent of marital and family conflicts Frequency Percentage Ever had serious conflicts 186 77.5 Never had serious conflicts 54 22.5 Total 240 100.0 Source: Questionnaire responses (2006-2009)

Table 6.1 shows that 77.5 percent of the respondents revealed that they have had serious conflicts in their marriage, whereas 22.5 percent said that they have never had serious conflicts. When discussing the same question, FGD participants and married women explained that marital and family conflicts occur practically in all families. Contexts, magnitudes, frequencies and intervention mechanisms for resolving such conflicts, however, are different, leading to a

Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes … 177 conflict being serious or not. The response “never having had serious conflicts” could therefore mean that those who gave this answer could very well have had conflicts too but always managed to solve them internally. The 77.5 percent of respondents who indicated that they have had serious conflicts could have involved external help. With the above suppositions, I probed further by asking the married women interviewees, separated women and FGD participants to give their understanding of marital and family conflicts. Several synonymous terms were given by the participants, and the most frequently given expressions were obuteikirizana, oburyaane, okurwanagana, omuhondano, oburemeezi and okugumizana omumaka, which mean disagreements, fights, conflicts, non- compromising and difficult relations that result in latent and open confrontations in homes. My participants explained that such situations involve couples’ frequent quarrels, common fighting with each other, living in a state of withdrawal, silence or bullying, usually victimizing and battering each other and the children as a result of transferred anger, always evading family obligations, deserting or often being evicted from the home, usually husbands’ refusal of wives’ food and denial of sex. Furthermore, they maintained that there are some situations of conflict that can be resolved internally by the couples themselves, while others require intervention by a mediator, namely parents and relatives, friends, neighbors, religious leaders or courts of law and other mechanisms, such as separation or divorce, especially in extreme conflicts, as will be discussed below. The fact that 77.5 percent of the married women revealed that they have had marital conflicts beyond their control can be considered an indication that to a large extent, marital and family conflicts exist in Ankore families.

6.3 Traditional causes of family conflicts

Several new developments, such as increasing relatives’ demands and growing dependency, as well as more traditional problems such as wife-beating were noted by my participants to have had implications for the position of married women in family relations in terms of their protection and the mechanisms that were used to resolve family conflicts. Comparing traditional customs and habits in Ankore families with current systems, my participants were able to generate specific information on Ankore family conflicts that is so far not reported anywhere else. I begin with the shared problems and causes of conflicts that were faced in traditional Ankore families and the mechanisms

178 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level that were applied in resolving these problems as compared to challenges that are faced in contemporary families. It is important to note that the traditional problems still exist, and to some extent some of the solutions are also still in use, though in a reformed way.

6.3.1 Lack of basic life necessities According to the elderly key informants and in line with some written sources (Butamanya, 1992; Mubangizi, 1963; Tumusiime, 2011), the mode of life in pre-colonial traditional Ankore families was relatively egalitarian and more or less dependent upon nature. Moreover, the population was still very small compared to the available resources. Shelter, food and clothing, which then consisted of skins or hides from the kept animals and bark cloths, were all locally obtained. The number of items per person depended on the wealth of the family, and over time these basic needs have been changing in quality and quantity. As such, traditionally, marital conflicts resulting from those basic family needs were relatively minimal. However, about 60 percent of key informants and FGD participants mentioned that there were instances in the past in which husbands would fail to provide clothing and proper shelter for their families. Elderly key informants explained that in such instances of irresponsibility and a lack of basics in the home, conflicts would arise, inevitably prompting the wife to report the matters to her parents-in-law, especially the mother-in-law, who would duly talk to her son or inform the father-in-law, as the head of the family. If the wife failed to get the expected intervention, she would then proceed to her natal home for advice and intervention, a situation that was avoided as long as possible because it put shame on such a husband and his family members. Key informants and FGD participants explained that to avoid embarrassment, the husband’s family members would not only intervene by disciplining fellow kinsmen through corrective measures against them, but would also provide the lacking basic necessities. Some of the sanctions mentioned, depending on the gravity of the matter, were to fine him a goat and or a pot of local beer (amaarwa), to warn him sternly and to monitor him to ensure he adequately provided the basic necessities for his family members. For fear of stronger measures, such as being beaten (kumucwa) or being ostracized and ex- communicated from family membership, he would abide and care for his family’s needs. One of the interviewed key informants explained this as follows:

Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes … 179

At that time people feared to be ex-communicated from their families and clans; they shunned embarrassment and embarrassing their people. They would listen to advice and take heed, and that would motivate family members to help the disgruntled family to stabilize. (Key informant, Mbarara, 2008).

The above information indicates fear but also respect for the family members and traditional values as a motivation for continued support for each other. Likewise, during the FGDs about 50 percent of the participants mentioned that if for some reason (such as physical or psychological ill health), the husband totally failed to change and care for his family’s needs, the “extended” family members would take up the responsibility to provide and protect the wife and the children. Through family network dynamics and rules, a wife’s problems would be solved and the couple’s and family relations would be sustained as the traditional Ankore proverb verifies: abeine kihabura tibaremwa kuhuguuka or abeine kiramura tibeitana (Those who have advisers cannot fail to be corrected, or those with interveners cannot kill each other).

6.3.2 Childlessness According to almost 95 percent of the elderly key informants, and in line with Butamanya (1992) and Mubangizi (1963), childless marriage in Ankore families was considered no marriage at all. Almost 90 percent of FGD participants, key informants and married women interviewees shared that whereas a woman would live with barrenness and look after her husbands’ children from other women, it was unbearable for a man to accept and be known as impotent and childless. My participants emphasized that any problems hindering procreation called for the concerted attention of the family members to avoid the most feared after-effects of someone dying childless, known as enfanabujune (one who dies childless and therefore with misery) and whose spirit would haunt those left behind. Furthermore, about 80 percent of key informants explained that barrenness was a culturally condoned reason for divorcing a wife, especially if she had other problems with the family members as well. Conversely, a husband’s impotence (particularly if combined with other problems) justified a divorce and return of enjugano to allow the wife to get some other man to marry, more so if there were no in-laws to produce children with her. Moreover, according to about 95 percent of the key informants and FGD participants, some of the traditional mechanisms that were applied to solve childlessness but also to save the marriage include the use of diviners and traditional healers or marriage to

180 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level another wife (in case of barrenness) or the option of a wife to produce with her in-laws (in the case of impotence) in order to enable a married couple and a homestead to have children. Similar stories like the one given below, shared by one of my key informants, illustrate traditional mechanism in resolving childlessness and its related family problems and conflicts.

If a wife proved to be barren, with or without her consent, one of her sisters or any other woman would be taken on by her husband as a co-wife to bear children for the family. In that way, the barren woman maintained her status of the senior woman in the family, except if she had other problems that could not be tolerated in her marital home. In that way, the stigma of barrenness but also lack of “warmth and life” attributed to children in a home would be overcome for the sustainability of marital and family relations. Similarly, if it was established by concerned family members that their ‘son’ could not bear a child, his brothers would produce with his wife and the begotten children would socially and culturally belong to the impotent brother. The biological father remained as their uncle and would never make any claim of these children. Although the public could suspect the impotent man, his wife and his brothers’ relationship, it was not an issue for public discussion, as long as the children belonged to the family members. (Key informant, Buhweju, 2008)

Although during the FGDs the mechanism of wife-sharing by brothers or relatives was mentioned to be dying out, especially among the elites and in urban areas, it was noted to be still evident, although to a smaller degree, in rural families, especially among unschooled and pastoralist Bahima families. Moreover, about 70 percent of FGD participants in rural and urban sites revealed that although wife-sharing by brothers is fading out, married spouses (women and men alike), schooled or not, continue to have extramarital relations outside family members, sometimes to solve childlessness problems. About 70 percent of the key informants and FGD participants explained that wife-sharing mechanisms not only left the impotent husband and wife psychologically and physically happy but also kept family secrets on which to build a stable family relationship. Additionally, the elderly key informants and FGD participants explained that sexual relations and the capacity to bear children remains the epitome of personhood, and therefore, lacking the ability to have children, known as ekifeera in the mother tongue, is equated to worthlessness or uselessness.

Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes … 181

About 80 percent of key informants clarified that due to the secretive nature of sex-related issues in Ankore families, currently problems and conflicts associated with or arising from childlessness are usually not well understood nor managed. As such, there are tendencies to simply address the implications with improper (public) mechanisms rather than solving the real existing problem, which was noted to worsen the marital and family relations. Indeed, almost 95 percent of married and separated women commented that it is not proper nor is it helpful for a woman who still has respect, not only for her husband but also for herself, to publicly reveal sex-related issues to non-partisan members or in courts of law. Their major argument was that barrenness or impotence is never openly revealed as the real problem disturbing the married couple nor do the courts or non-partisan audiences have solutions for childlessness and the resulting conflicts. Like the key informants, FGD participants revealed that there were cul- tureally acceptable means of knowing secret problems and having them addressed without public notice. For instance, it was mentioned that since family members in Ankore lived in nearby homesteads, elders in the family could detect the likelihood of conjugal problems affecting their newly married family members. In one of the FGDs, conducted in 2009, a participant using the Runyankore proverb erisho ry’omukuru n’enteenyu (the eye of an elder is decisive) explained the capability of elders to skillfully observe and interpret signals of a problem without asking or being told by the concerned person. Then the family head or the married couple would consult diviners, herbalists or healers. Sometimes, the problem would be rectified or the wife-sharing mechanism would apply for the protection of family relations. One of the elderly key informants in 2009 emphasized that such marital issues would never be brought out to the public for hearing or discussion. She explained that a few concerned family members would be involved in getting solutions to the problems, which were accompanied by rituals for keeping secrets. In so doing, the couple facing the problems would be helped without causing them psychological torture and embarrassment. Asked how such a transaction would remain out of public knowledge, in line with several other interviewees, a key informant narrated how an oath of secrecy for keeping family transactions forever confidential was conducted.

To keep the transaction to only the concerned parties themselves, an oath known as okumira akabaare [literally: swallowing a pebble] was a form of sealing a highly secretive agreement. The concerned persons would swear never to reveal the transactions to anybody. It was emphasized and believed

182 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

that whoever broke such an oath [okwata eibanga] would die of a swollen stomach in unbearable pain. (Key informant, Bushenyi, 2009)

The key informant explained that since nobody wanted to die in such a self- caused ailment, those concerned persons would keep the oath of secrecy. Similarly during the FGDs in one of the rural study sites (in 2008), one of the participants explained that kikaba kiba kibi munonga kucunaguza nari kujuma omuntu obuzire ruzaaro orikumwijutsya embera ze ezarimu (it was very bad and unacceptable to insult and ridicule or joke about someone’s childlessness condition). This fact was confirmed by several other participants. As such, the process of secrecy and protection supported or facilitated the implemented mechanisms to solve the family problem. It is worth noting that rituals accompanied by strong belief and fear of consequences were of great importance as strongholds of traditional mechanisms of secrecy and resolutions of family conflicts. Moreover, almost 70 percent of my entire sample mentioned that the use of traditional healers, herbalists or diviners in family conflict resolutions is still going on, mostly in clandestine ways.

6.3.3 Hereditary diseases or habits and solution mechanisms It is a known fact that chronic diseases are costly and a menace to any family’s happiness, and they are consequently a source of family conflicts. Therefore, FGD participants and key informants explained that in the traditions of Ankore, there were precautionary secretive and open investigations that were done prior to and in the process of choosing a marriage partner in order to avoid eventu- alities from inherited chronic diseases and habits. The emphasis on the matter was expressed by use of the renowned Ankore proverb Owashwera abuuza n’owashwerwa araguza (One who intends to marry or to be married should always make precautionary investigations and consultations about the person and the family into which he or she is to be married). Almost 80 percent of my entire sample made reference to the proverb. According to the FGD participants and interviewed key informants, those families known to have hereditary diseases and anti-social behaviors exclusively married among each other until the principle of consultations before marriage was dishonored and ignored, particularly among the elites and cohabiting spouses. The participants argued that although there would be no total guarantee of knowing and avoiding every disease and bad behavioral practice, such inquiries were said to have minimized the spread of certain diseases and habits in the families that did not have them previously. FGD participants and key interviewees (2006-2009) mentioned the following inexhaustive list of hereditary

Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes … 183 diseases and habits that were avoided: entsimbo (epilepsy), ekookoro (cancer), ebibembe (leprosy), emiruumo (elephantiasis), eiraro (propensity to madness), okuyeita (suicidal tendencies), okukyekyera (night dancing), oburogi (witchcraft practices), oburib’wabantu (cannibalism) and obugumba (barrenness) and kuremwa amaka (separation or divorce tendencies). Almost 70 percent of the key informants and FGD participants recommended that because such hereditary problems disrupt family relations, avoiding them was a great mechanism for protecting family members and relations.

6.3.4 Problems of drunkenness and solution mechanisms According to almost 80 percent of key informants and FGD participants, prior to the colonial era with its monetary economy and formal employment, drunkenness was not a problem in Ankore family relations. The explanation emphasized by the key informants and FGD participants was that the available locally prepared beer (amaarwa) was free and moreover shared in the evenings with the neighboring families. However, some isolated cases of drunken men who fought their wives after such evenings were noted. For instance, during FGDs and key informant interviews, drunken men and sanctions against them were recalled, such as being denied the free social drink. My study participants explained that since a person would not live in isolation where the community and family values took precedence over individuals’ interests, drunken men would sometimes conform to the guiding principles of the society and rule of the people. I note that the social sanctions of isolation by family and community members in the past protected the wife and children against the mistreat- ment of drunken husbands. It is worth noting that there were gender perspectives in the traditions of social drinking. For instance, about 95 percent of FGD participants and key interviewees expressed that women were expected to drink moderately and in their homes or their immediate neighboring homes. Almost 100 percent of interviewed key informants, married and divorced women and FGD participants expressed that whereas the drunkenness of a man was or would be tolerated not to break a marriage, that of a woman was mentioned to disrupt marital and family relations. Asked further whether such practice is not gender- discriminative, key informants and FGD participants were 100 percent unanimously of the same mind that the restriction of women from public drinking was a safeguarding mechanism to protect women, their dignity and that of their families. For instance, FGD participants argued that while a drunken man can safely stagger home at any time of the night, a drunken woman risks being attacked, robbed or raped on the way in such a vulnerable state. Also, almost

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80 percent of the married women interviewees and FGD participants expressed almost with similarly regrettable words that esiindo y’omukazi nimbi, n’eita eka; nikibi omukazi kusinda omu bantu …; nikishwazana …; muka nanka, nyina nanka (The drunkenness of a woman is disgraceful; it can easily destroy a family; it is very bad for a woman to be seen drunk in public …; it is shameful …; someone’s wife, the mother of someone). My participants gave plenty of examples of homes in their societies in which wives are credited for sustaining marital and family relations in spite of the drunkenness of their husbands, as well as homes that failed due to the wives’ drunkenness.

6.3.5 Wife-beating and solution mechanisms From the interviews and FGDs, it became clear that wife-beating was common and at times condoned in Ankore traditional families, agriculturalists (Bairu) and pastoralists (Bahima) alike. Moreover, it was explained that while being beaten, women were advised never to scream or fight back, not only on the basis of unequal strengths but also not to cause more anger and damage from their husbands. To this advice, one of the female key informants explained in a condemning tone:

When a wife was beaten, she would not fight back or flee yelling outside the homestead due to the inflicted pain. Instead, she was expected to run to the inner room or backyard, where she would either be thoroughly beaten or be left free. The advice was that a woman should never scream, run away or fight back against her husband.

Although wife-beating was presented as omuze (a habit) of some husbands, about 50 percent of FGD participants, key informants and married women interviewees explained that sometimes it happened as a consequence of some other problems existing in the home. Some of the causes for wife-beating mentioned by about 75 percent of 60 male FGD participants include wives’ disliking or being unwelcoming towards their husband’s relatives or not caring for the husband’s parents, and nearly 65 percent talked of obufuuhi (the wife or husband mistrusting or suspecting each other to have other lovers). Addi- tionally, nearly 60 percent of the 60 male FGD participants pointed to the wives’ arrogance or nagging personality, about 50 percent mentioned issues of hygiene, sexual dissatisfaction or rumor mongering, and about 45 percent pointed to the wives’ involvement and use of sorcery on their husbands. How- ever, about 70 percent of the participants said similar behaviors exist in current families, with especially women mentioning the husbands’ neglect of family,

Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes … 185 drunkenness, extramarital relations, inferiority complex and/or superiority or conceit of a husband in the home. Furthermore, almost 65 percent noted disagreements on family resource use and control as causes of family conflicts, disgruntlements and wife-beating. As mechanisms to sustain family relations in such situations, first of all almost 100 percent of key informants, married women interviewees and FGD participants acknowledged that Ankore family values dictated that women must be tolerant, persistent and compromising to sustain marriages, even when their marital and basic human rights were violated. About 12 elderly key informants shared painful experiences (some in their own marriages but also from other homes that they knew) that were tolerated until their husbands gave up the habit, either through intervention by family and community members, the couple’s old age or the death of the spouse. Secondly, key informants and FGD participants shared isolated situations where a wife decided to fight her husband to defend herself. If she proved to match or even be stronger than the husband, the practice of wife battering either decreased or stopped. Thirdly, it was also mentioned that although it is not acceptable for any child to beat or insult a parent, sometimes when the children of a recurrently beaten mother, especially sons, grew up, they would intervene to protect their mother. In such circumstances, the child would be pardoned for the unbecoming act of beating up the parent. On a comparative basis, almost 75 percent of the key informants and FGD participants emphasized that there was much more wife-beating in the traditional families than is witnessed in the current Ankore families. According to the FGD participants, the married women interviewees, key informants and leaders of protecting institutions who were interviewed, the reduction of wife- beating can be attributed to a combination of (1) changing times with greater exposure of families and criticism of open fights, (2) couples’ levels of attained education, (3) attained social status and the protection of public image and relations, and (4) fear and embarrassment related to the rule of law. From the four given reasons, almost 75 percent of the key informants, married women interviewees and FGD participants shared that although women are still beaten in current times, the practice has decreased. In reference to the fear of the rule of law, like in several other FGDs, one of the participants expressed that Museveni akaha abakazi obugabe bwingi, n’omukwataho norara omukihome; “abakazi ba Museveni” tibakiteerwa (President Museveni gave women a lot of liberty – you beat her you will sleep in prison; “President Museveni’s women” are no longer beaten) (FGD participant, Bushenyi, 2008). According to the respondents, there is an improvement in the practice and control mechanism of

186 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level wife-beating in current times relative to previous times in Ankore family relations.

6.4 Traditional mechanisms for family conflict resolution

In the following section, I will explain the detailed traditional mechanisms that were used to protect women against domestic violence. The purpose of describing in detail these traditional mechanisms is to form a foundation for a comparison of indigenous traditional and conventional legal mechanisms as a basis for evaluating the levels of success in the protection of women in Ankore family relations.

6.4.1 Temporary separation and kinsmen involvement According to almost 80 percent of the key informants and FGD participants, sometimes wife-beating went on after the mentioned traditional approaches of involvement and intervention by the husband’s family and the neighborhood community, thus necessitating the wife to seek the intercession of her natal home and community. This is known as okwangana:28 The wife, on her own will and protesting the way she is being treated by her husband, goes to her natal home for a while, i.e., separation, until the conflict is settled. Almost 95 percent of the participants revealed that currently separated women do not “refuse or oppose” the way they are being treated in their marital home by going back to their natal family. It was noted that they tend to live on their own by starting a personal business (selling local beers, hotels, kiosks, shops, food stalls or any other informal IGA in the trading centers). My participants explained instances where the husband or his family would also be disgruntled with the wife and force her out of the home, i.e., okubinga omukazi (the husband or his family dismissing the wife) which they differentiated from okushenda (divorce and return of enjugano). Almost 80 percent of the key informants and FGD participants argued that the temporary separation would in the first place facilitate the healing process of reconciliation. The FGD participants explained that the absence from each other was a moment of self-reflection for the couple to realize the worthiness of being together in the home, hitherto taken for granted. Therefore, separation itself would naturally heal the relationship, and in that case there would be no need for arbitration procedures. Secondly, separation was meant to give parents

28 Okwangana comes from the verb okwanga (refuse, oppose, reject).

Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes … 187 and concerned relatives on both sides an opportunity to examine the couple’s problems and enough time to address them in a cool and informed manner. Temporary separation as a mechanism was therefore presented by my study participants as a learning experience for the couple on how to treat each other more appreciatively after reconciliation.

6.4.2 Traditional arbitration processes Key informants, elderly interviewees and FGD participants reported that after a certain period in which the husband and wife stayed at their natal home, as a procedure, a traditional arbitration meeting including natal and marital parents, relatives and trusted community members, especially the elders, would be convened. About 85 percent of the key informants and FGD participants who either have participated in or witnessed such meetings reported that the offended partner would first present the case and later the offender would defend him or herself based on the presented issues. According to the key informants, the emphasized guiding principle during the eishaazi (traditional arbitration meeting) in which marital and family grievances were put forward was to listen and observe emotions carefully in order to interpret the given information, which in most cases remained implicit but could be well understood by the attending mediators. From a traditional Ankore perspective, as explained by almost 75 percent of the interviewed key informants and FGD participants, the intention was not to suppress or hide evidence in order to win or lose the presented case, but to deliberately safeguard their integrity and family secrets. It served as a caution to the disgruntled upset couple, who otherwise tended to reveal boundless and unnecessary information about themselves. In the mother tongue, it was explained that the purpose is okutahemurana, kuteyanika n’okwemaramu ensha and okwesigiramu obufura (not to embarrass each other but to “quarrel safely” and “leave stumps” from which reconciliation would sprout). It was explained that from the revealed information and observed emotions, the attending invited relatives would observe and listen carefully to the words and the frequency of their use, emphasis in the tones and gestures, and would judge the magnitude of the couple’s problems on which to base their judgments and decisions. Throughout the interviews, the elderly key informants emphasized that each case in its own unique context had its own verdict as deemed appropriate by the convened eishaazi meeting, more so in consultation and with the consent of the conflicting couple on whether to stay in separation a little while or to reunite and reconcile thereafter. It was also argued that although there were sanctions

188 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level taken against the offender (see Section 6.4.5), such an approach integrated counseling and reconciliation. Almost 70 percent of the key informants and FGD participants emphasized that the sanctions were not considered accusatory or judgmental to focus on who wins and who loses the case. Rather, the given reason was that the traditional arbitration’s objective was reconciliation, recon- struction, restoration and healing of the wounded marital and family relations, where conflicting members are part of their own reconciliation through a restorative justice process.29 As such, the married couples were noted in the FGDs to have “won” and learned better ways of relating with each other, though in different magnitudes and perspectives. In line with the principles of restorative justice, the Ankore arbitration process encouraged dialogue between the conflicting parties while other family and society members were listening, allowing the grieved partners to air their differences as they narrated their plight. Through such process truth from the conflicting partners would be disclosed and resolutions reached consensually there and then. Almost 85 percent of the key informants and FGD participants expressed that in the traditional process of conflict resolution, justice was seen being done and the conflicting members trusted other family and society members present who acted as mediators to oversee the reconciliation process. Furthermore, over 90 percent of the key informants and FGD participants stated that in most instances, the verdict made through this reconciliation mechanism of family meetings and intervention was accepted and family or marital relations restored. Additionally, it was mentioned that although the mechanism is still in use, conflicting spouses tend to adhere less to the reconciliation process and resolutions made by family members.

6.4.3 Beating up the brother-in-law to defend the sister According to about 60 percent of the elderly key informants, married women and FGD participants, beating up a brother-in-law, in a case of him being a cruel husband to their sister, was a known and acceptable traditional mechanism in Ankore families. When the husband has refused to improve his behavior with the earlier mentioned mechanisms (i.e., sanctions from his family members, his wife’s family and the community), his brothers-in-law, having tired of his arrogance, which is interpreted as devaluing them and the entire family of his wife, would trap him, either along the way, in a drinking

29 Restorative justice is a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused or revealed by criminal behavior. It emphasizes the involvement of all stakeholders in the conflict, i.e., the offender, the offended victim and other family members or community/society, in the process of reconciliation (see http://www.restorativejustice.org/intro, accessed May 7, 2008).

Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes … 189 place or when he comes to negotiate for the usual reconciliations, and beat him up thoroughly. Some 25 percent of the key informants and FGD participants shared that they had experienced beating their in-laws, and others had witnessed it happening in their village, and there were no repercussions. It was acceptable, and the people involved were not accused nor asked to explain why they fought their in-law. However, although its contribution to the protection of women in marital and family relations was confirmed, persistent wife-beating even after beating up the in-law was also mentioned. Later on, with the rule of law against fighting for revenge taking precedence over the rule of the people in the country, the mechanism of beating up cruel in-laws became punishable and is slowly dying out.

6.4.4 Silence: Women’s strategy against open violence According to almost 75 percent of the elderly key informants, married women and FGD participants, silence was expected of a married woman as a tool and sign of her compromise to avoid wrath and violent confrontations from her husband. However, silence was also mentioned to have sometimes resulted in worse marital and family relations, especially when it was interpreted as being arrogant or demeaning to a husband who was expecting a response. My participants explained that normally husbands become impatient with and intolerant of argumentative wives, especially when they are stressed, infuriated or under the influence of alcohol. It was therefore argued that an omukazi omugyezi (wise woman) normally sensed those moods and avoided being irksome to the already disturbed husband. There is a famous story known to most people in Ankore that was repeatedly shared by married woman interviewees and in all the 11 FGDs conducted, which illustrates the value attached to silence as a mechanism to avoid or minimize marital and family conflicts. It was explained that this story is usually told to advise nagging women who may not know why they are always being beaten by their husband. Below is an English version of the story.

Like several other women faced with domestic problems, one day a woman decided to consult a diviner to control her husband’s hot tempers and restore peace in the home. She informed the medicine man that her husband comes home quarreling and being furious with everyone, and that whenever she tries to question him, the beating starts immediately. From the woman’s composure and manner of speaking, the medicine man suspected the pesky behavior of the woman. He gave her colored water as medicine in a

190 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

container to take a mouthful and keep it in the mouth for a while whenever her husband came home, which she did. Because she could not talk with water in her mouth, she did not have trouble with her husband for the whole week. When she updated the diviner on the progress of the treatment, the medicine man gave her more doses of colored water for over a month, and by the end of it, a new, improved relationship had been formed in the family. When the woman went to thank the medicine man later, he became parental and revealed to her that there was not any medicine directed to her husband, except that the water in the mouth (or leaf under her tongue)30 prevented her from pestering her husband as she had previously done.

The story illustrates that the mechanism of silence, which is intended to create submissiveness and a show of respect to the husband, had succeeded in helping a nagging woman to control her behavior that was irritating to her husband, and that solved their conflicting moods and expectations in their marital relations. However, almost 60 percent of the interviewed married women and FGD participants, and especially the schooled elites and people in urban places, expressed silence as a sign of defeatism and acceptance of a subordinate position. As a way forward and a lesson learned from the shared experiences during the FGDs, married women were advised to learn their husband’s character and to recognize the opportune times to discuss sensitive issues, and more so to know how to query certain behaviors in order to influence decisions without causing family conflicts.

6.4.5 Consultations with diviners and herbalists Although Mubangizi (1963) associates consultations with diviners and herbalists with obukafiire (paganism), almost 70 percent of the elderly key informants, married women and separated women interviewees as well as FGD participants maintained that in the traditions of Ankore, events that happen in life are never taken for granted. In line with Kasenene (1993), the participants expressed that, although Christianity in Africa criticized traditional beliefs and practices as satanic, the practice of consulting diviners has continued where deemed necessary. Traditionally, both negative and positive events had to be understood, especially with the help of omuhangwa (a diviner), i.e., a person who is thought to have gifts of interpreting events, and if necessary, offering

30 Other participants talked of, rather than colored water, a piece of a herbal weed-leaf (mpunika) meant to be held under the tongue.

Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes … 191 solutions to rectify the situation beforehand (Karwemera, 1994; Kasenene, 1993; Mubangizi, 1963). To illustrate the complexity of a marital and family relations conflict, one of the elderly female key informants in 2006, Angelina (pseudonym) narrated her experience with a traditional healer to me after she was accused of being responsible for the impotence of her brother-in-law, explaining the role that was played by a diviner or traditional healer in resolving the family conflict and the problem.

I had been married in that family for five years and had two children with my husband, who was usually away working for wages in Buganda. I was still having meals with my husband’s parents and his siblings, but sleeping in our own house. […] My young brother-in-law had not married and seemed to have no intention of doing so. Then suspicion began to circulate that I must have bewitched him to remain unmarried, so that he could keep sexual relations with me in the absence of my husband. Everybody around seemed to believe that false claim, except my mother-in-law. […] She had treated his impotence problem at childhood and kept suspecting it could have persisted up to then. […] Not being sure, she also kept quiet about her son’s allegations.

[…] My brother-in-law claimed that he slept with me once and that since then he had never felt the urge to get his own wife or have sexual relations with any other woman. That heightened the suspicion […]. I was tortured by the family members that I am a witch, one of the crimes punishable by divorce in Ankore marital relations, and I was turned into a social misfit. I persisted, however, pleading innocent. When my husband came back and learned of these claims about me, he advised me to stay at his home, if I was sure I did not bewitch his brother. […] My parents also gave me similar advice. Eventually, to discover the truth of the matter, my father-in-law and other family members invited a renowned diviner [omufumu ruranganwa], respected for his unfailing medicine and for not tolerating lies. The family members advised me to accept the blame and save my life; but I insisted on reasserting my innocence and willingness to take the medicine. […] When the herbalist started arranging his containers to mix his medicine […] in the presence of my husband and all the family members, my brother- in-law [yagambisibwa] fumbled with words and changed his previous allegations to say that he only attempted to have sex with me but did not succeed.

192 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

The family members then began to suspect that their son could have lied to them (hiding problems from a condition which some family members, including the mother, suspected) and therefore could die upon taking the medicine. They could not push or insist further upon him to say the truth beyond this in front of everyone […]. For fear of risking his life, he confided to the medicine man that he had impotence problems and that the sister-in-law was actually a scapegoat or victim of circumstance. (Key informant Angelina, age 87, 2006)

Traditionally, each and every person in Ankore was expected to marry. Angelina’s younger brother-in-law, however, “had not married and seemed to have no intention of doing so.” Consequently, rumors and suspicions began to circulate. When the expected failed to happen, something must have gone wrong. Angelina was attributed to be the cause of this deviation from the norm. She was considered to “have bewitched him to remain unmarried,” and everybody seemed to believe that claim. In order to obtain the truth her father- in-law invited a renowned diviner. For fear of risking his life, the brother-in- law confided to the medicine man. As a result of fear and belief in the unfailing power of the medicine man, the truth came out as the basis for reconciliation and conflict resolution. Probed further on how she felt about the justice in the process and of the mechanism, Angelina expressed happiness because she was relieved of the false claims against her. She reaffirmed that the use of omufumu was the only way that could reveal the truth and resolve such a sensitive issue. She explained that had such conflicts been taken to the court of law, the relationship with her brother-in-law and family members would have been exacerbated, moreover without knowing the truth of the matter and finding solutions to the problem. About 75 percent of the key informants, interviewed married women and FGD participants mentioned that most conflicts in families are outcomes or consequences of underlying problems. According to almost 60 percent of the participants, over 90 percent of whom were practicing Christians and Muslims, the diviners and herbalists resolve conflicts by setting ambivalent threats, instilling fears so as to revive morals and obuntu or humaneness and getting the offender to confess and speak the truth in order to reconcile not only with the victim, but also with all the other affected family members or parties. Such viewpoints are illustrated by the story of Angelina, who went through physical and psychological torture and embarrassment caused by the hidden problem of her brother-in-law. Following the principles of restorative justice in conflict resolution, her social and psychological image had to be reassured by reaching

Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes … 193 the truth. Similarly, the family relations of her marital and her natal family members that had been destabilized by the false allegations had to be cleared and restored. Moreover, bringing her brother-in-law to confession signifies accepting his mistakes and regretting disharmony caused to all family members and to the community. Plus the family members realized the root cause of the problem, which showed through lies, rumors and family conflicts, and then trusted traditional allegiance to intervene. After discovering the problem, solution finding would be left to fewer trusted people (parents or family members with adherence and loyalty to secrets). That is, the family members learned that their son had an impotence problem and arranged to get him treated. Angelina, happily smiling, mentioned that her brother-in-law later on married and begot children. Angelina’s husband also forgave his brother and even contributed to his enjugano. By the time of the interview, Angelina shared that they were living in good family relations as brothers, families and good neighbors. About 75 percent of the key informants and FGD participants explained that because the offender remained part of the family and community where he or she would be monitored for improvement, the offender and the offended could be satisfied without resentment and a heart for revenge. Additionally, my participants maintained that the traditional system of mediation and the rule of the people left all concerned parties satisfied with decisions reached consensually, and that motivated the victim to forgive the offender. Indeed, in Angelina’s example, she expressed that she was happy and relieved that her brother-in-law spoke the truth, and she forgave him for harming her reputation. With laughter, her arms spread in front of her and shoulder shrugs of shared victory, she said:

My brother in-law was asked to slaughter a goat and provide a pot of amaarwa [local beer] for the members that attended the mediation. Assisted by my mother-in-law together with other women married into the family, we provided food items and prepared and served a meal that was shared by all the people who participated in resolving our conflicts. My father-in-law, who had invited the diviner [omufumu], gave him his compensation [entashurano] of two goats to take to his home.

In reference to restorative justice, all the concerned members, including the offended Angelina, the offender, family members, the medicine man as the mediator and the neighbors as witnesses partook in the celebration of the resolved conflict. From all the 30 interviewed key informants, the aspect of sharing a meal and drinking amaarwa was very important as a way of con-

194 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level cluding the reconciliation processes and relaxing the minds and hearts of the conflicting parties. For them, that was a sincere and an inwardly humble way of asking for pardon, mercy, forgiveness and repentance from the offender and acceptance from the offended in order to facilitate reconciliation and co- existence. From the explanations of about 60 percent of the interviewed key informants (as some of them did not want to discuss a lot on diviners, sorcery and traditional healers, which they, from a Christian perspective, associated with paganism), a diviner is a mediator that facilitates open dialogue for conflicting parties to speak their mind and be relieved of anger. As such, about 60 percent of the elderly key informants expressed that the process not only offered physical but also psychological healing, and by the time a verdict was concluded, the conflicting parties and all the people present were consensually convinced to accept the resolution presented. However, almost 70 percent of the key informants and FGD participants emphasized that although some diviners and herbalists were very useful in treating people’s psychological and physical problems, it should not be taken for granted that they were all genuine and always truthful in their transactions. For instance, several examples of where herbalists and diviners intimidated and scared innocent persons into being regarded guilty were also given. To show the double standards of the people towards diviners and herbalists, I once again quote Angelina, acknowledging the lack of genuine truth through divination:

Once a woman fell in a trench, which she was asked to jump across to prove her innocence for not being responsible for the death of her co-wife’s child. […] The woman was then blamed as a witch and held guilty for bewitching and killing the child. Her husband and his family divorced her [okumushenda], concluding with the return of enjugano, as witchcraft practices, once confirmed, cannot be tolerated in any family. (Angelina, 2008)

Similar situations where innocent people were allegedly victimized through diviners and herbalists were shared by several other key informants and during the FGDs. However, other than the false herbalists and diviners who pretend to have solutions to all challenges by manipulating people’s problems, fears and frustrations, about 60 percent of the interviewed married women and FGD participants explained that genuine traditional healers exist and still play an important role in instilling a sense of morals and ethics, which is required in family relations and human co-existence. Five traditional healers that were consulted as part of key informant interviews disclosed that they treat all categories of people, among them Christians

Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes … 195 and Moslems, schooled and unschooled, rural and urban, poor and rich alike. Additionally, they explained that while the majority of their clients consult them at night, men and women alike, some others, especially the rich, invite them privately to treat them in their homes. Furthermore, almost 50 percent of the married and separated women mentioned that some women still consult and seek help from diviners and traditional healers to either restore or rejuvenate their strained marital relationship. It is worth noting that less than 10 percent of the married women interviewees disclosed that they have ever consulted traditional healers; the majority gave their examples in references to other people that they know. Moreover, about 60 percent of key informants and FGD participants confirmed the practice and noted that, irrespective of some negative consequences from potent herbs, such as making the husband weird or wilder, the primary goal is to have him positively transformed into a better person. Indeed, some married women interviewees mentioned some eerie husbands in their society, allegedly as a result of witchcraft and the misuse of traditional herbs.

6.4.6 Divorce and sustainability of family relations According to about 70 percent of the interviewed key informants, it was a disgrace and unfortunate not only for the married women to divorce but also for their families. The key informants explained that if the divorce trait happened frequently among the girls in particular families, it would be used as a measure of their daughters’ stability in their marital and family relations. Consequently, in the inquiry process of owashwera abuuza, such akarande k’okuremwa amaka (i.e., trait of failing to make homes) would be used against the other girls to cast doubt on their credibility and stability in marriage. Considering the value attached to marriage in the Ankore families, married women withstood bitter relations to safeguard against such a remark and its consequences. However, almost 75 percent of the key informants and FGD participants explained that, rather than forcing and insisting on irreconcilable partners staying together, the traditions of Ankore provided for dissolution of the potentially fatal marriage relations. My study participants clarified that after applying all the mentioned traditional mechanisms, i.e., denying the violent husband social drinks, family interventions, arbitration meetings, counseling, beatings by in-laws – commonly referred to as okugorogoza (trying every possible solution), sometimes marital relations would continue to be strained. Ankore family traditions then opted for divorce (okutaana or okushenda) as a way in which a couple could exit from a hostile and risky relationship. Almost

196 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

80 percent of the separated women interviewees expressed that it is better to live separately than to die or kill each other, which in the long run could involve other members of the natal and marital families through okuhoora enzigu (revenge killing). Examples of such exceptional known incidences were shared by elderly key informants, who described them as situations that had necessitated community intervention, cleansing rituals and paying indemnity to stop further revenge killing. Moreover, divorce was emphasized to be the only way to nullify the existing legal customary marriage and set a previously married woman free for remarriage, although a man could marry other wives without any hindrances. Regarding the Domestic Relations Bill, already discussed in Chapter 2, almost 75 percent of married women, key informants and FGD participants expressed that divorce not only gives a woman a free identity and an opportunity to have a new partner, but it also offers psychological and physiological peace to the separated spouses, especially women and their family members. The Domestic Relations Bill contradicts the traditional concept of divorce. While the bill contests the return of enjugano when marriage fails, traditional marriage is only nullified with the return of the enjugano to set the woman free for the new suitor. Despite the woman’s departure from her marital home, about 75 percent of the 30 key informants and 110 FGD participants noted that the husband claims the separated woman as his wife and no new marriage relationship can be approved before what the first husband gave is returned to him. Besides, no suitor is willing to marry another man’s wife. Additionally, it was explained that divorced people would probably get an opportunity to have a partner suitable to their personalities and problems or would have learned from their past mistakes to change their ways of life in order not to lose the second marriage. In so doing, the new marriage would be stable, and some key informants and FGD participants disclosed some marital relations known to be stable after previous first marriages. However, instances where recurrent violent relationships persisted with subsequent marriages were also recalled. It is worth noting that almost 100 percent of my participants noted that the stability of marriage relationships in Ankore families was shouldered by women and depended on the patience and tolerance of wives, which was noted to be decreasing in current married women. However, despite the noted shortfalls of expecting much more from the wives than the husbands, almost 90 percent of my participants emphasized that the traditional mechanisms were a better protection for married women in family relations than current legal government systems.

Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes … 197

As material needs and wants in Ankore families kept increasing and changing over a period of time, family problems as well as conflicts and mechanisms of resolving them also transformed. According to almost 70 percent of the key informant interviewees and FGD participants, there has been a departure, not only or necessarily from the traditional problems but from the approaches to resolving these problems. This has resulted in the use of both traditional and conventional legal mechanisms to address gender inequality and protect women’s rights. Figure 6.1 illustrates the situational analysis of changes in marital and family problems in Ankore family relations.

Figure 6.1 Changes in marital and family problems, applied resolution mechanisms and implications on the position of women

Traditional & Traditional modern mechanisms mechanisms

Family problems New family problems (pre-colonial era) (since colonial times to date) Childlessness Property rights and power relations Sexual dissatisfaction / Impotence struggles Hereditary diseases Poverty / financial constraints Drunkenness Misuse of family resources Wife beating New needs / life style Lack of family basics Relatives’ demands / influence Irresponsibility / home neglect Mixed marriages (religion, education…) Work-related stress / constraints Unfaithfulness / mistrust Co-wives and stepchildren Diseases (sexually transmitted, esp. HIV) Witchcraft Drunkenness / alcoholism Neglect and absconding of family obligations Implications on women Arrogance of women / lack of respect for The position and husband and relatives protection of women in marital and family relations

Women’s empowerment strategies (government policies, institutions, NGOs)

Source: Designed from collected field data

198 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

6.5 Contemporary causes of family conflict

In Sections 6.3 and 6.4, problems and conflict resolution through rule-of-the- people mechanisms in traditional Ankore families have been discussed. In this section, existing additional family problems, new legal mechanisms and their outcomes for the protection of women in Ankore family relations are dealt with.

6.5.1 Monetary economy, financial constraints and poverty Asked about the main causes of conflicts or problems in their families, almost 85 percent of my interviewees and FGDs participants mentioned poverty or the inability to satisfy increasing family needs. For instance, almost 60 percent of the interviewees and FGD participants, especially in urban areas, expressed that the global monetary economy with its financial implications is not fully understood to be incorporated in the traditional family livelihoods. Additional- ly, my participants explained that there are more needs that require money, which is hard to get. Almost 85 percent of the interviewees and FGD participants mentioned that they spend more money on family members and relatives (as an obligation) and on friends in the form of social investment than on personal capital investments. Because of relatives’ needs or demands and related financial strain, quarrels usually crop up, adversely affecting family relations. Moreover, as shared by almost 100 percent of the interviewed married women, husband’s relatives tend to blame wives as being stringent and resentful to in-laws when their demands are not met. Similarly, during the FGDs all participants expressed that relatives’ demands, whether from the wives’ or husbands’ side, are creating financial constraints on family resources and consequently on the couple’s relations. Furthermore, almost 65 percent of the interviewed married women and FGD participants explained that the basic needs and other necessities of life, such as quality education, medical care and standards of living in homes, are increasingly becoming hard to obtain and sustain. More- over, during interviews and FGDs, expressions like obworo buresire ebizibu omu maka (poverty has caused a lot of problems in families) and eka y’obworo t’ebura ntongane (a family beset by poverty is never free of quarrels and conflicts) were common, and there was frequent acknowledgement of poverty as a problem in families at all study sites.

Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes … 199

6.5.2 Affluence and its challenges During the interviews and FGDs, almost 75 percent of the participants explained that other than a lack of basics, issues of money and the quest for affluence in family resources, especially in relation to their use, control and ownership or property rights (as already discussed in Chapter 5) have also created family conflicts. Conversely, in cases where money is abundantly available to the couple, especially to the husband, this was noted to motivate luxury drinking with casual friends or having extramarital affairs, sometimes at the cost of family members. Such behavior was noted to result in health problems and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. Indeed, according to the 2011 national HIV indicator survey, its prevalence among Ugandans between 15-19 years old is at 7.3 percent and even higher in women, at 8.3 percent, up from 6.4 percent in the 2004-2005 survey. With infidelity practices, financial costs and resulting health risks, rivalries with co-wives and stepchildren when discovered by the legitimate wife have often caused marital and family conflicts. On the other hand, in cases where a wife has a better-paying job and has more money than her husband, almost 90 percent of my participants noted that inferiority complexes of husbands and/or superiority complexes of women have also caused marital and family conflicts. In relation to a husband’s inferiority complex, one of the interviewed married women working as a banker reported:

I have tried to explain to my husband that at the bank we have to balance each day’s operations, but he has refused to understand me. He normally calls me “corporate class” who does not know the husband, a man in the home. […] He calls me while I am at work and when I fail to receive the phone, especially when I am tending to a customer, I go home prepared for an explanation, knowing that there will be trouble […]. He complains that the clients are more important than him. (Married woman banker, Bushenyi, 2009)

In line with the above shared experience, almost 85 percent of the married men in the FGDs explained that because of the socio-economic and culturally constructed norm of men in the lead or headship position, they are never comfortable in a secondary position. Conversely, women’s improved economic power and out-of-home careers together with the husbands’ inability to provide for their families’ basic needs or make decisions for their families, as already discussed in Chapter 5, were noted to exacerbate marital and family conflicts.

200 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

In relation to this challenge, almost 85 percent of the interviewed married women, key informants and FGD participants noted that it would be better for a man in the home to have a higher income than his wife. They explained that although the husband’s income may not necessarily and profitably take care of family needs, it keeps him in the headship position and fulfills his need for psychological and physiological satisfaction, which helps married women to peacefully keep the home.

6.5.3 Power struggle and control of family resources Almost 70 percent of the interviewees and FGD participants mentioned husbands’ power-related attempts to control family properties, including their wives’ accumulated savings. According to about 85 percent of the key informants, interviewed married women and FGD participants, the power struggle in the home is exacerbated by misinterpretation of the Western approach to women’s emancipation, which is locally understood to mean uplifting the status of women over men in the competitive development agendas. Reference to the given descriptions of women’s empowerment in Chapter 5, such as akahayahayano, omwingaingano or omweringanizo (women’s fight to take over men’s position or competition for equality with men, assuming or wishing and claiming to be equal), shows that elevating married women exclusive of their husbands within the traditional hierarchical and male-skewed Ankore family structure and system is fighting a war against the male race (okurwanisa abashaija). For almost 60 percent of the FGD participants, women’s empowerment is seen as copying and pasting foreign practices without discernment of what is suitable or possible in Ankore family relations. Consequently, it triggers husbands’ opposition and resistance mechanisms, such as manipulation, exploitation or withdrawal of contributions to family requirements, as explained in Chapter 5. During the FGDs it was explained that some husbands take to drinking, others become workaholics or violent or neglect their family responsibilities, among other habits, sometimes as a result of dejection. For instance, it was explained that due to lack of employment and poverty some husbands have no means of supporting their families. Withdrawing contributions to family requirements was given as an example of some husbands’ decisions to make their wives spend their savings on family needs. During the FGDs it was reasoned that when a spouse, whether husband or wife, resigns from contributing to family needs, inevitably it creates tensions and conflicts in the family. Related to financial constraints and resentment of the married women, the husband’s relatives tend to accuse the wife for overlooking the husband,

Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes … 201 without considering the underlying causes. For instance, the following was shared by a separated woman whose story we presented earlier:

When I started my business of selling local beer, all my savings were aimed at buying a piece of land where we could put a house to call our own home, as we were in a rental house [omuzigo], in which I found my husband before marriage. When he learned that I had saved the money to buy the land, he wanted me to first lend it to him. […] He would give it back to me soon after we had seen the land to buy. I totally refused, for I had had enough of his tricks and several stories from my friends of how women lose not only their money, but also their businesses. He became furious and violent. […] He started beating me for dead. When I shared my plight with his parents and relatives, they said it was my fault, because I do not respect my husband. I am big-headed and arrogant, demeaning or devaluing my husband [nyine amaryo, nimujooga, nimugaya]. My own parents, especially my mother, advised me to accept the idea and surrender the money for the sake of my life and children. I had got tired of the beatings and the marital relationship was getting even more bitter. I decided to leave his place. I bought this of piece of land and built this house where I live with my children. (Separated woman, Ntungamo, 2009)

As the married woman explains, involvement of the husband’s or natal relatives in the power struggle and control or use of family resources tends to have a traditional hierarchical perspective of male bias. Her personal decision to live a separate life indicates the complexity of empowering a married woman within the family system.

6.5.4 Multiple activities and conjugal obligations According to almost 75 percent of the interviewed married women, especially those with IGA/Ps outside the home environment, it is hard to balance demands of IGA/Ps, domestic work and conjugal obligations. As a solution, almost 90 percent of married women interviewees said that they have a full-time hired housemaid to do most of the domestic work. On the one hand, during the FGDs almost 70 percent of the husbands expressed disappointment in the increasing number of married women who are not only resigning from domestic work and leaving it to the housemaids but also are sacrificing their conjugal obligations in pursuit of IGA/Ps and money-making. On the other hand, almost 65 percent of the interviewed married women with IGA/Ps working out-of-home and for longer hours expressed similar challenges with entrusting their homes to the

202 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level housemaids and declining sexual desire due to busy work schedules and tiredness. With multiple responsibilities, most women revealed that usually their loyalties are torn and they are too exhausted to attend to their husbands and family obligations. Amidst loud laughter, throughout the FGDs married men shared that although it is not in order for any husband to sleep with a housemaid, continuous negative responses of “being tired” as an excuse for denied conjugal obligations has resulted in a trend towards such a practice. Common questions put jokingly in a consultative manner by married men throughout the FGDs were Mbwenu weza iwe aho noyenda omuntu akoreki (In such situation what should a person do)? Moreover, it was explained by almost 90 percent of the participants, men and women alike, that being deprived of sex or ignored by a spouse so often has generated mistrust, unfaithfulness, suspicions and domestic violence and is one of the leading causes of other family problems or conflicts. On the basis of prioritizing out-of-home activities at the expense of domestic work and absconding marital and family obligations, almost 90 percent of the men and about 40 percent of the women in the FGDs implicate women’s empowerment as the cause of increasing family conflicts. Moreover, interviewed married women shared how their husbands resentfully oppose their out-of-home activities, especially their coming home late in the night.

My husband usually locks me out, complaining that I come home late and that I should keep out since my interest is to be “out of the house rather than in the house.” When my children cry out for me to be let in, he beats them terribly, until my neighbors and friends plead with him to open up for me. It is so embarrassing […], but I live with it. I do not know what to do; maybe one day, he will understand and realize his mistakes. (Woman politician, Ntungamo, 2009)

Another married woman working with an NGO in 2008 explained:

Several times, he has made me miss the “unending workshops and trainings.” […] I cannot go without his consent […]. Sometimes, when I have given up and already sent my apologies to the training organizers he reconsiders his decision and informs me to go […]. I rely on his moods to avoid more problems.

The above examples are a representation of almost 80 percent of the interviewed married women and FGD participants who expressed that inclusion of

Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes … 203 women in public activities, when they are expected to continue with the domestic chores, creates conflicting loyalties and more challenges than ordinarily seen. However, it should not be generalized that all married women engaged in out-of-home activities have conflicts with their husbands. For instance, a married woman in a saloon business reported:

My husband has no problem with my working hours and coming late. He sometimes waits for me until I finish my late work. I sometimes feel guilty for keeping him out in the night for long hours. Usually, I contribute to his social drinks with his friends, where I normally join him after my work. (Married woman, Bushenyi, 2009).

Similarly, about 35 percent of the married women interviewees in civil service also shared that their husbands had no problem with their working programs. One married woman who is a medical doctor reported the following:

My husband often goes home early to oversee the home activities, children’s homework, their feeding and going to bed. When I come home, he welcomes me and opens up for me without any complaint. However, his parents [especially the mother] and his relatives have always commented that perhaps I bewitched their son. Because he is uniquely supportive in our domestic work and my mother-in-law has always told me that “this is not the behavior of a normal man.” [in a victorious turn of eyes] Even my friends also ask, Iwe omushaija okamuha ki [For you, what did you give to your husband]? […] my husband usually encourages me that I should let people say what they like, as long as we know what we are doing in our family. As a result of hatred from his parents and relatives, we rarely go to his home village, except when there is a real need and cause to be there [for example, Christmas, Easter, weddings, funerals, and family reunions]. Even then, I notice that his people are not at ease with us, especially with me. (Married woman medical doctor, Bushenyi, 2009)

Relatives’ negative remarks and their resentment towards married women who have the support of their husbands in domestic household activities are a common source of family conflicts.

204 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

6.5.5 Drunkenness Unlike traditional neighborhood free social drinking in the evenings, currently drinks are paid for and can be obtained any time of the day. As a consequence, drunkenness was reported by almost 65 percent of the interviewed married women, elderly key informants and FGD participants to be increasing and a source of problems in marital and family relations. For instance, about 10 percent of the married women interviewees mentioned that a drunken husband comes back late in the night and makes inconvenient demands for sex, no matter what the wife’s health condition may be. Another 50 percent shared that husbands demand hot food past midnight or warm water for bathing, sometimes when there are no facilities in the home to ensure such services at that time. Additionally, almost 50 percent of the FGD participants noted that usually drunken men do not want to bathe and clean their mouth before going to bed. Furthermore, it was mentioned that sometimes women who complain about their husbands’ hygiene meet violence or are forced out of the house for assuming a lot of power in the home. Moreover, it was explained that drinking results in other family problems, especially poverty, misappropriation of family resources, lack of prioritizing family needs, lacking guidance of children, open domestic violence and unfaithfulness, which makes the couple susceptible to health risks, especially HIV/AIDS.

6.5.6 Poor communication systems Although almost 90 percent of the participants mentioned that clear communication and information flows are important in marital and family relations, it was noted by key informants, married women and FGD participants that a tendency to hide information from each other among married couples has become a common practice. My participants explained that when the right information is lacking, rumors are adopted, which result in mistrusts and conflicts from hearsay. It was reasoned that because spying informers have to report some sort of information, sometimes they may tell lies, which normally exacerbate family problems.

6.6 Contemporary mechanisms for family conflict resolution

To examine protection and problem solving for married women in Ankore families, I asked my participants for the mechanisms that were in place and how they evaluate their performance in protecting married women. The responses of the questionnaire respondents are presented in Table 6.2.

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Table 6.2 Existing mechanisms for addressing marital conflicts Mechanisms to solve conflict Frequency Percentage Resilient traditional mechanisms Involve parents, relatives and friends, community 96 40 members Compromise by spouses; silence 48 20 Herbalists and diviners 24 10 Sub-total 168 70 Legal institutions (rule of law) Courts of law (local courts, police, magistrates, 42 15 FIDA (U), probation office) Religious leaders 30 15 Sub-total 72 30 Grand total 240 100 Source: Responses of 240 questionnaire participants

Table 6.2 indicates a mixture of both traditional and Western legal mechanisms, with a majority of 70 percent respondents applying traditional mechanisms and 30 percent using legal institutions.

6.6.1 Resilient traditional methods From the perspectives of the Ankore process of “cultural marriage”, parents, and especially fathers-in-law, are awarded great respect as the head of the family or clan, in which the married children are included. Moreover, according to almost 80 percent of the interviewed elderly key informants, it is a responsibility of family heads to know of and convene meetings for conflicting family members. Bypassing such protocol, especially in families where this cohesion and network is still strong, is interpreted as undermining family relations, resulting in biases towards the behavior of the married woman, regardless of whether she is wronged by the husband or not. Therefore, it is not a surprise that 40 percent of the questionnaire respondents had contacted their parents, in-laws and relatives in their family conflicts. Almost 60 percent of the interviewed married women that live in urban places explained that they consult friends or coworkers in resolving their family problems. Therefore, in the absence of their parents or kinsmen, friends or coworkers are alternatives who are substituted for the parents’ or relatives’ role. Furthermore, almost 90 percent of urban interviewees and FGD participants explained that they are in touch with their relatives not only for family

206 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level celebrations, Christmas or Easter days but also for family networking reasons. During FGDs, participants expressed that relatives, friends and community members become supportive and useful only when they have been friendly and part of the conflicting married couple’s life. Otherwise, they tend to remain observers or the cause of their problems. FGD participants explained that in such a situation family members become strangers and ineffective in resolving family conflicts when they are invited in a state of emergency. Another resilient traditional mechanism reported by 20 percent of the questionnaire participants in Table 6.2 was that one member of the couple usually compromises. Moreover, almost 70 percent of the interviewees and FGD participants mentioned that they use it as a way of cooling down the temper of their partners to overcome their differences amicably. Asked for who normally compromises, almost 70 percent of the FGD participants and married women interviewees indicated that it is a method mostly used by women. However, married women attributed women’s compromising practice to parenting and upbringing, as well as the spouse’s judgment of the partner’s personality. In reference to the advice of women compromising their views, one of the interviewed women in a high profile position revealed that compromising is the cornerstone for her relatively stable marriage, despite her career influences. She reported the following:

When I was growing up, I was always reprimanded not to engage in arguments with my brothers. As I was getting married, my aunt advised me to always remember to use as few words as possible when hot arguments with my husband develop. […] What I remember very well from my aunt’s advice and which has helped me to combine my career with my family relations is not to engage in a heated argument with my husband, even when I know I am right. I keep quiet and bring my point later on at an opportune, conducive moment and time. […] being confrontational and antagonistic to a husband does not help; instead it upsets him, causing more tension and unnecessary conflicts than solving them. (Married woman, Mbarara, 2008)

In reference to the above experience, women have been criticized for forgetting the traditions of silence and of compromising their views and for transferring socio-economic and attained political status into marital homes to demean their husbands. However, during the FGDs and interviews with married women, it was mentioned that some men or husbands also compromise their views and interests to avoid open conflicts, though in a different manner. For instance, about 60 percent of the elderly key informants referred to the cultural advice to

Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes … 207 men in the proverb omushaija kwashoberwa aretsa (When a man is perturbed, he should resort to his smoking pipe). The message behind “resorting to smoking” was to divert the angered husband’s mind from taking a bad action. The key informants explained that one cannot talk seriously with something in one’s mouth. Besides, being a sedative, tobacco would eventually soothe the mind to reduce the anger. During the FGDs it was explained that currently while some men may smoke, others take a walk away from home, yet others stay longer at the place of work or have a social drink with friends till late in the night to find the wife already asleep or having forgotten. The traditional compromising approach for husbands and wives is in line with the silence strategy suggested by Parpart (2010). However, interviewees and FGD participants noted that if there is too much compromise or silence and particularly if it is one-sided, it may be mistaken for acceptance of continued exploitation. For instance, on the side of the wife it was interpreted as being arrogant and big-headed to aggravate a husband’s anger, and on the part of the husband it was interpreted that the wife took him for granted. The FGD participants further explained that sometimes, when the aggrieved partner remains on the silent or compromising side and continues absorbing anger, in the long run it may cause stress-related consequences, such as ill health and social problems. In such circumstances, therefore, silence or compromising one’s interest for a long time was criticized for causing worse and unsuspected crimes, such as murder cases where family members and society fail to figure out what could have been the cause, since the couple has always been seen to be happy. Some known crimes in their villages were shared by FGD participants and interviewees as illustrations of their experiences. From Table 6.2, a small 10 percent of questionnaire respondents mentioned that they ever consulted diviners and herbalists in their family’s conflict resolution. That information indicates the resilience of consulting diviners and herbalists as a traditional relation healing mechanism in Ankore families, despite criticism from Western religions. Moreover, during the FGDs and interviews with married women, participants explained that because most families in Uganda today are Christian or Muslim believers, they tend to publicly shun the use of diviners and herbalists. In all the conducted FGDs (rural or urban), almost 70 percent of the participants pointed out that for fear of being publicly criticized or condemned by their Christian or Muslim faith, families in Ankore, rich or poor, schooled or not, urban or rural, covertly continue to visit herbalists and diviners not only for solving marital problems, but also for settling several other challenges in life. The secretive approach to

208 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level diviners and herbalists explains why very few respondents (10 percent) openly mentioned that they consult herbalists as a mechanism for solving their family conflicts. Similarly, herbalists consulted in the area of study revealed that they have clients that they serve till late in the night. One of the diviners in 2007 shared that several married women come to them with family problems, including barrenness, cruelty of the husbands and to restore their marital and family relations. However, some of the women interviewees and FGD participants indicated that, although sometimes the diviners’ advice has improved marital relations, the reverse has also been true, especially when the husband discovers that his wife is involved in “witchcraft” practices or when the after-effects have been detrimental to the marriage and family relationships. Nonetheless, almost 70 percent of the interviewed married women and FGD participants expressed that although the consequences might turn out to be bad, the prime intention of the wife in visiting the herbalist or “witch doctor” is to heal the husband and restore their marital and family relationship.

6.6.2 Legal institutions and mechanisms According to Table 6.2, only about 15 percent of the questionnaire respondents had used legal courts of law for conflict resolution. However, according to the FGD participants the use of courts of law and legal institutions in attempts to resolve family conflict is on the increase, especially in urban areas. About 5 percent of the interviewed rural married women also mentioned that they used courts of law (Police, FIDA or the Probation Office), having realized that their husband’s parents and relatives are either the cause of their family problems or are unable to objectively assist in resolving their problems. Never- theless, almost 80 percent of the interviewed separated women, elderly key informants and FGD participants expressed reservations about the institutions of law. They explained that they resort to legal institutions when traditional mechanisms become subjective, are doubted or have been exhausted and turned out to be unable to resolve family conflicts. Although the extent to which legal offices are used in addressing marital and family conflicts is small among the respondents, the fact that some couples resort to them implies that some married spouses find them helpful as alternative mechanisms of family conflict management. Conversely, about 30 percent of the married women interviewees raised concerns about traditional and legal systems alike and said that they keep their problems to themselves or consult their friends. The reasoning and frequently used phrases were Mbwenu owaremire ishe na nyina naija kubasibwa police? (Will the one who failed to listen to the advice of his parents be

Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes … 209 managed by the police?); Abakama kubarikugyenda notoorahi […] nari mwaruga omu bakama noha guuha muhanda? (When the Local Council leaders go away, who will protect you […] or after the court session, which way do you go?). Likewise, married men and women in the FGDs generally expressed resentment for married women that resort to legal institutions. One elaborate explanation given by a married man but very similar to what others said during FGDs is that:

Some women seem not to realize that taking a husband to courts of law on grounds of family issues escalates the already sour relationship. It attracts hatred from his kinsmen and blame from their own natal relatives and friends. (Married man, Bushenyi, 2008)

An interviewed married woman who went through such experiences reported that:

It creates some feeling of guilt, self-blame, that you have done something wrong and shame to the children who will be associated with conflicting parents. Ultimately, it makes the married couple social misfits to the public. In any case, the courts of law cannot provide solutions to the underlying causes of the problems. (Married woman, Isingiro, 2009)

Put more vividly, a married woman in the rural area who sued and had her husband imprisoned for frequently fighting, neglecting the family and closing her out of the house in the night together with her children shared that:

Information reached home before me that I had imprisoned my husband […]. My mother-in-law asked me how long her son was going to stay in jail […], my father-in-law did not say anything, but when I greeted him, he did not respond […]. My parents and friends, too, were not happy with my decision and they advised me to go back and ask for his release […]. At first my children were supportive of my action, but later they began to blame me that he only fights when he is drunk […] who was to give him food […] and so I should forgive him and have him come back home […]. Finally, his sister warned me that I should find where to stay if her brother does not come back home by evening […]. To make matters worse, when I went back to ask the prison’s officer to let him free, he too needed money for closing the already opened case […]. What I went through, I decided never

210 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

to waste any more time and energy […]. I learned to put up with my problems. (Married woman, Ntungamo, 2009)

In relation to regrettable consequences of women applying to legal institutions, about 30 percent of the interviewed key informants explained that the constitutional policy, the process of women’s rights protection and the legal court system to achieve this goal are not connected with traditional family values. The process of reaching verdicts by courts of law to protect the woman does not consider underlying risks faced by married women, who are exposed to more dangers than the solutions sought through the legal institutions. For instance, during the FGD, participants shared that:

The courts system takes a longer time, meanwhile, leaving the offended wife in suspense and in a more vulnerable state. This is because after suing and imprisoning the husband, in the long process of court visits, a wife may no longer safely stay with the husband under the same roof […]. Moreover, it is the wife that has to look for where to be in the meantime. There is no form of legal protection or responsibility in supporting a victimized wife in the process of resolving their marital and family problems. (FGD participant, Mbarara, 2008)

Similarly, in line with the delays in the protection of and solutions for victimized women, the police officer in charge of the child and family protection unit of Rwizi, South Western Regional office that I consulted in 2013 confirmed the increasing rates of reported domestic violence and the low rate at which they are being disposed of. The available office records offered of reported and pending cases are shown in Table 6.3.

Table 6.3 Reported and pending domestic violence cases Year Reported cases Still under Forwarded to court investigation 2008 168 163 5 2009 580 505 75 2010 344 334 10 2011 394 384 10 2012 369 366 3 2013 (up to March) 182 182 Source: Regional office records including Ntungamo, Isingiro, Ibanda, Kiruhura and Mbarara districts (2013)

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Table 6.3 indicates that most of the reported cases remain under investigation. Information concerning marital and family relationships in Ankore is not freely released to strangers. As the consulted police officer noted, doing investigations to get enough information to forward the reported cases to court remains a problem. Likewise, the time lag to conclude the presented cases has remained a demoralizing factor that discourages married women from utilizing the services of the existing legal institutions. Moreover, the police officer mentioned that there are more unreported cases than reported ones, which is an acknowledgement of not only the increasing rates of family conflicts, but also the low use of the existing legal institutions. Similarly, an interviewed married woman and civil servant in 2009 expressed that:

Without guaranteed protection and solutions thereafter from the institutions of law, there is no use to expose my family problems to the public in the courts of law, who will only make a record of my plight as they have no solutions to most problems that they receive […]. Perhaps a woman seeking for divorce and a share of the family property should take her marital and family conflicts to courts of law, as a last resort […]. (Married woman civil servant, 2009)

This married woman’s opinion indicates hesitations but not a total rejection of the use of legal institutions due to fear of exacerbating the relationship’s conflicts. On the other hand, in one of the radio talk-show discussions on empowerment and rights of women, a male listener who called in online in 2008 expressed the following:

If a wife takes me to court and then I get arrested and later on the police or FIDA dictate terms of how I should marry her or set standards of how I should run my family affairs, she will have to go to the police or FIDA for a better marriage or to get her a better husband. Rather she should get where to stay before I get back home […].

In this man’s views, there is resentment and opposition to the use of legal institutions and systems, which is noted in further threats to the wife. However, in line with Nussbaum (2000), such arguments raise capability concerns when the court simply adopts the legal ruling terms that the husband maintains the wife and the children on a monthly basis, irrespective of the capacity to do that. For instance, according to my FGD participants’ explanations, while some

212 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level husbands in civil service employment sectors may have their salary monitored and may pay through the court system to maintain their separated wife and the children, it may not be easy with the majority of non-salaried husbands to pay upkeep on a monthly basis. Moreover, it was noted that due to the loopholes in the legal system to enforce the law, salaried husbands decline to honor the requested support for the separated wife and children. One of the interviewed separated women in an urban setup in 2008 shared that:

My husband put the maintenance money to my account for the first three months […]. After absconding for two months when I asked him, he replied that he is not my employer to offer me a monthly pay. […] When I went back to the police, they told me that if I do not have the capacity to maintain the children, then they should be handed over to their father, which I did not want. […] I gave up the struggle with him for our upkeep and I manage on my own. (Separated woman, urban area, 2008)

It is worth noting that constitutional law requires that children below 7 years old should remain in the custody of their mother with the maintenance support of their father (Uganda Law Reform Commission, 2010). On the contrary, my participants explained that the traditions of Ankore have it that children belong to their father’s lineage and, should there be separation, a woman is expected to leave the children behind. In case she goes with them, she would not be expected to claim support from their father. Moreover, going with their mother puts children at risk of being disowned by their father and hence being denied their genealogical identity and sense of belonging. In the long run, the children grow up and put their mother to the task to explain who their father is, which, according to my key informants, is something married women want to avoid. In such cases where the police and conflicting partners or the separated wife know the traditions of Ankore and the involved risks of forcing the husband beyond the limits, they all abandon the case. Dependency on the husband’s family property continues to keep married women with children in an indecisive position, caught up between the two dysfunctional conflict resolution mechanisms. For instance, almost 50 percent of the married woman interviewees, especially in rural areas, shared experiences similar to the one given below:

Our family income is from my gardens on his inherited ancestral land. There is no way of getting any money from him outside the family land […]. He does not have any money to give us outside his home, […], More-

Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes … 213

over, he drinks much of his earnings from his activities. I had to abandon the court case and go back to utilize the land for our survival. [with wide open eyes and open hands] If he failed to maintain us while we were together with him, how would he maintain us when we were away from him? (Married woman, Ibanda, 2009)

Although in this shared experience, the survival of the family is based on the wife’s efforts, it is through the husband’s inherited ancestral land. The wife, better than anyone else, knows her husband’s financial status and understands his family attachment to the ancestral land and thus questions the applicability of the rule of law in her case, which causes her to make a decision to abandon the case and go back to her marital home. Asked about the categories of married people that use courts and other institutions of law, one of the interviewed magistrates at a family court in 2008 revealed that almost 65 percent are people of low profile and especially from urban areas. He explained that couples of high status rarely use courts of laws in their family conflicts for fear of publicity and for the sake of covering up their integrity. Also, where it is possible to resolve their disagreements outside the courts, the magistrate disclosed that they advise the conflicting parties to utilize traditional mechanisms or the local council courts. Asked about the challenges met in the family protection unit, the police officer (Mbarara, 2009) mentioned a lack of trained personnel in the field of family relations, facilitation to quicken the investigation process and facts on which to base the judgments. Furthermore, he expressed that the court system in its operations is alien to the people, and especially due to the duration of the investigations and the type of questions asked to get evidence, the majority of the conflicting partners tend to get the feeling that legal institutions are corrupt and not efficient. For purposes of triangulation of information and comparative evaluation of the traditional Ankore approach and the Western approach in the protection of women and in resolving family conflicts, I involved married women, key informants, separated women and FGD participants by asking them similar guiding questions. Table 6.4 gives their compiled views.

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Table 6.4 Comparative analysis of traditional and Western legal mechanisms of family conflict resolution

Characteristics Traditional approach Western approach Participants’ opinions (TA) (WA) Mediators Family members form a Trained professionals Mediators and the and their council (eishaazi) conflicting family Lawyers qualifications consisting of clan leaders members in TA know (ekika), community Police each other, unlike in the respected elders and Judges and magistrates WA where they are neighbors of both genders strangers to each other. Local Councils (mostly Diviners, healers and not trained) There is a sense of trust in herbalists TA and mistrust or fear in Religious leaders WA. All with no formal training but using their Family members in TA experience are sometimes the causes of conflicts; they have become subjective and thus lose neutrality in finding solutions. WA is usually corruptible. Venue and Sit at the house or Sit at established courts of The familiar environment attire compound of rivaling law; room is reserved for in TA is conducive to couples, parents of the arbitration; official court family discussions. husband or wife; casual attire or vestments The official attire and attire room make the setting judgmental and artificial. Procedures Informal hearing from Conflicting people have Conflicting parties in TA conflicting partners who their own place in the remain part of the sit among mediating court room families, which gives relatives or community them hope and a sense of Recorded rules and members security, unlike the policies required as condemned isolation in Each case is uniquely references to solve WA. handled current cases Tension of recording No record keeping Records or writings are what is being said, yet made Feedback/resolution that reference can be given there and then Feedback given later after changed or easily studying written notes Use of local, familiar and manipulated in WA. No understood language Several journeys to the idea of whether they are courts are usually writing what you are No interpreter required saying. In TA, each case Personal presentation and is handled uniquely on its Use of English and ownership of cases own, through listening interpreter, though, and observation. No fees required sometimes use of local

Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes … 215

language, esp. in local Justice delayed is justice council courts denied in WA, which may take years. Cases argued by lawyers English/interpreters High court fee is always arouse mistrust and required together with misrepresentation on transport costs resolutions made. Take longer to give Hired lawyers deprive verdict ownership of the case from concerned parties in WA. Local council courts are composed of husbands’ relatives or colleagues, who tend to cover up the truth. WA are costly in terms of money and time. Most women lack money for the costs associated. There is a high corruption rate in the WA. Penalties Sharing affordable items: Depends on the TA asks for affordable (Goats and sheep, meals, magnitude of the problem local items, relevant for drinks) and decision of the court healing relations. Strenuous penalties in No court fee is paid Money WA widen the relations Imprisonment further and trigger Beating and manual work revenge. Penalties are not connected to the wrongs done for which the person is being punished. Besides, public labor does not benefit the conflicting family members. Source: Designed by the author with information from interviews and FGDs

Table 6.4 shows that there are contradictions between the traditional and legal systems of family conflict resolution. Additionally, males and females alike (schooled and unschooled, poor and rich, in rural and urban areas) have mis- givings regarding both systems, but especially regarding the Western rule of law approach in the protection of women in family conflicts. In one of the Mbarara court sessions that I attended for this study in 2008, I witnessed one contender who consulted the court assessor about what was

216 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level resolved after the court had closed, having not understood what his lawyer was saying all along. Moreover, total silence in the court with no interjection unless one is asked to explain, language barriers and delays creates tension and remains a source of mistrust and failure to accept verdicts in court rulings, even when fairness is being applied in addressing the issues raised by the conflicting partners. To further illustrate the mistrust and dissatisfaction of married people in the rule of law system for resolving family relation conflicts, one of the separated women consulted in 2008 shared challenges she had met in the use of the court system:

I had to change lawyers. My first lawyer was confusing me, and he kept postponing fixed court hearing days without consulting me. I had to fit in his programs and interests for the last three years, until last year when I gave up and hired this one. All that is money spent on transport to Mbarara, feeding and fees for the lawyers. This new one is good; I have not had problems with him. (Separated woman, Mbarara, 2008)

I asked FGD participants, separated and married women and key informants to evaluate the levels of success of existing traditional and legal mechanisms in family conflict resolution and the protection of women. Their performance rates generally differed depending on individuals’ perception and attitudes, but not necessarily on location (urban or rural) or attained education level. For instance, the traditional approaches were given performance success marks of between 30 and 60 percent and Western legal mechanisms between 10 and 30 percent, depending on both personal or shared experiences and perceptions of advantages and disadvantages in each system. From the low performance rates given, it can be concluded that married people in Ankore families in current times are not satisfied with either legal or traditional mechanisms. However, almost 60 percent of all interviewees and FGD participants mentioned that legal mechanisms are useful and handy when those family conflicts turn into criminal cases or are beyond the family and society’s control. Some known instances where married couples that fought and harmed each other severely, requiring police interventions, were also shared. Nevertheless, based on the loopholes in both traditional and government legal mechanisms, about 20 percent of the married spouses in FGDs mentioned that they keep their marital problems to themselves. Moreover, due to religious influences and practices in Ankore families, other than legal approaches, almost 40 percent of the FGD participants noted that they trust their family problems with their religious leaders, prayer groups and women’s

Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes … 217 religious associations, such as mothers’ unions for the Anglican married women. In a situation beyond human solutions, the believers turn everything to the Lord in prayers. Almost 50 percent of the interviewed married women revealed that from their prayer groups they get physiological, social and psychological support to deal with their family problems. It is worth noting that Christian values of tolerance, submission, patience, forgiveness and reconciliation are similar to the traditional Ankore families’ expectations from a married woman in family relations.

6.6.3 Recommended mechanisms Having provided a critique of both traditional and Western legal methods as having loopholes but at the same time accepting that family conflicts are part of human existence, the participants were asked to share the methods they use or would recommend for married women in resolving family relation conflicts. It is important to note that almost 30 percent of the questionnaire respondents left this question blank and that others, including interviewees and FGD participants, reproduced the existing criticized methods. Furthermore, during the FGDs about 70 percent recommended that married people ought to live a responsible life and share family obligations as much as they can without force or waiting for external intervention. Also, about 70 percent mentioned family discussions and agreement in decision-making. However, it was not possible to explain the process of how these ideal situations in family relations were to be attained. It was noted that in family meetings and discussions, there is also self- counseling and reflection, although about 20 percent suggested a need to consult or train counselors in the field of family therapy. Through people’s initiatives, almost 80 percent of the participants mentioned that they belong to village-formed self-help organizations, not only for income and social support but also for reconciliation purposes. These groups work independently of Local Council systems and offer counseling to each other and to individuals who appear to be deviating from the guidelines and rules of their organizations, or members who are worn down with their family challenges through reconciliation sessions. For instance, one of the chairpersons of the self-help organizations visited revealed that they had so far (2009) successfully resolved about 25 family disputes involving their members since the initiation of the group in 2006, having realized that courts of law and relatives were dividing people further in family relations. Furthermore, for purposes of sharing information and learning from each other, the coordinator of the Community Peace Program (CPP) in Mbarara municipality agreed to accompany me in 2009 in the Vision Radio talk-show in Mbarara to share their

218 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level system of operation in resolving family conflicts. Although most other self- help associations were not as formally organized and functional as the Mbarara CPP, which was supported by a South African organization, social and self- help organizations were mentioned to be a source of support and a mechanism for resolving each other’s family challenges, which was traditionally a family function.

6.7 Conclusions

With colonial administration, new systems of Western legal mechanisms were adopted to address social and family problems concurrently with the traditional mechanisms that were in place, irrespective of cultural differences, and this has remained so to date. My study indicates loopholes and weaknesses in both systems and the prevalence of family conflicts in Ankore families with both dysfunctional and inefficient systems of traditional rule by the people and Western legal systems of the rule of law. The participants note that as material basic needs and requirements in Ankore families increased and changed over time, the problems and mechanisms of conflict resolution also changed. Al- though there is resilience of traditional systems of conflict resolution, there has also been a departure, not only or necessarily from the traditional problems but from approaches to resolve the problems. I further observe that there is no single mechanism that successfully works in improving marital and family relations. Although high-profile married spouses tend not to use legal courts and traditional mechanisms, it was noted that married women will in any given circumstance use any of the existing mechanisms that seem to offer them better solutions for their protection in solving their family conflicts. From the comparative analysis of indigenous traditional and Western legal approaches of family conflict resolution, my study shows that Ankore families had a built-in traditional system of resolving family conflicts that was adhered to by family members. Also, not every aspect of the traditional approaches has been abandoned, for there is resilience of the indigenous mechanisms of consulting parents, relatives, friends and trusted married people in the community for family conflict management. Moreover, my study points out that married couples who live or work outside their home environment still use indigenous mechanisms of marital and family conflict resolution. To a large extent, traditional practices are evident in current times and more often than not in controversy with the rule of law. Arguably, traditional family conflict resolution mechanisms are based on the rule and will of the people and are built on societal values, which to a higher degree leave the conflicting partners

Women’s position in traditional and contemporary causes … 219 satisfied to accept the verdict made. Such satisfaction and agreed consensus resolutions are said to have protected women in their marital and family relations more than with the rule of law in the adopted Western legal system. However, with the contradictions in the operations of the traditional approaches with those of the Western legal rule of law system, the two systems undermine and weaken each other. Similarly, the legal mechanisms are also undermined by the resistance of indigenous traditional systems that people in Ankore seem to be still strongly attached to. Moreover, the legal Western approaches have lots of shortfalls in the implementation of adopted foreign systems that are neither fully understood nor accepted or appropriate for the secret context and privacy attached to family relations. As such, my study noted that in most cases, the legal guidelines have remained well-intentioned and written on paper without helping the intended beneficiaries, i.e., the women, against gender-based violence. Moreover, traditional mechanisms, including the Local Council systems, are undermined and are equally in- competent, leaving the married women dissatisfied with the process of family conflict resolution. As such, the participants noted that both legal and traditional systems are inefficient and ineffective in the protection of married women in family relations. Finally, my study concludes that the existing legal institutions in place and adopted policies have not necessarily improved married women’s situations in terms of attaining equality with men nor have they granted them protection in Ankore family relations.

CHAPTER 7 Discussion and conclusion

7.1 Introduction

Chapter 7 presents a summary and a discussion of my main findings and conclusions and makes recommendations for future research and possible empowerment activities. It also refers to some limitations of my study. In my study I focused on Ankore women’s empowerment strategies, namely, increasing the number of women in formal education, increasing women’s income levels, promoting women’s participation in policy and political decision- making processes and promoting the awareness of established intervening institutions for family protection and women’s rights (UN General Assembly, 1979; UNDP, 2012c, 2012d). I used both quantitative and qualitative approaches to investigate whether these empowerment strategies have improved gender relations and the possibilities of married Ankore women’s decision- making on the use, control and ownership of family resources. In what follows, mainly the results from Chapters 4 to 6 are discussed further in relation to the information given in the theoretical Chapters 1 and 2.

7.2 Discussion of results

My conclusions and discussions in this section are mainly based on the central research question of my study:

How do women in Ankore families perceive their experiences with regard to decision-making processes regarding the use, control and ownership of family resources?

In Chapter 4, I discussed whether women’s empowerment strategies have been able to change or improve traditional “oppressive” practices and the position of women in Ankore family relations. My study found that a number of criticized 222 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level traditional practices have persisted. Nonetheless, my study could not establish direct connections between women’s empowerment strategies and the changes that have or have not taken place in attempting to improve the traditional Ankore family practices. However, since it was the vision of the United Nations Assembly (1979) and women’s empowerment strategies as stipulated in the constitution of the Republic of Uganda (1995) to eliminate all those practices that discriminate against women in order for them to attain equality with men, we can say that this has not been achieved. This conclusion is based on the findings that “oppressive or insensitive” marriage practices, particularly the giving and receiving of enjugano, still exist as cherished practices, despite the implementation of women’s empowerment in Uganda since 1986. My study also recognized that although cohabitation is increasing in Ankore families, it still meets with social disapproval. Therefore, although couples in such relationships may consider themselves as husband and wife, their marriage is not legally bound as a traditional, religious or civil form of marriage. In the absence of any intervening and protective guiding marriage principles, such a situation puts wives in a more vulnerable state of inequality, as it exacerbates the position and status of wives more than husbands in such family relations, especially in times of family conflicts and resolution processes. Furthermore, my study noted that although marriages self-initiated by the couples themselves are increasing, through social networking systems, parents, relatives and friends are still influential in decision-making processes of the married couple. Additionally, my study acknowledged that the traditional okujumba and okuteera oruhoko, as forms of marriage, are completely dying out. Polygamy is noted to be reducing but with increasing rates of extramarital relations. In relation to the research question, therefore, my study concludes that empowerment strategies have not changed or done away with traditional “oppressive” cultural practices. In some instances where perspectives of marriage practices have changed, such as in cases of cohabiting or extramarital relations, the position and status of women have been further aggravated with no form of women’s protection in marital and family relations. In Chapter 5, I discussed whether attained education or the involvement of women in income-generating activities and projects (IGA/Ps) for both social and economic empowerment have improved women’s decision-making possibilities regarding the use, and control of their earnings in the homes and increased their property rights to family resources relative to their husbands. Considering the fact that the society and the majority of married women in Ankore do not, as yet, appreciate the autonomy of married women in the marketing of their own products and prefer to involve their husbands, the

Discussion and conclusion 223 practice has remained an avenue for the married women’s economic exploitation and manipulation. Moreover, my study revealed that a majority of married women in Ankore tend to protect the status of their husbands and prefer to keep them in a highly esteemed position. Additionally, they are deeply concerned with the welfare of their children and relatives more than their own well-being in marital and family relations. Based on this finding, my study deduces that involvement of women in IGA/Ps and improved incomes tend to improve the husbands’ capital base and social relations at the cost of women’s efforts. As such, my study concluded that women’s improved incomes have remained a means of improving other family members’ well-being and the quality of standards in the homes without necessarily empowering women in decision- making processes related to the use, control and ownership of acquired family resources. The above conclusion is derived from the questionnaire responses in relation to women’s improved possibilities regarding the use, control and ownership of family resources as a result of their activities and contributions. My study indicates that whereas 27.31 percent of the wives withdraw or control money via their personal accounts, 53.70 percent of the husbands can withdraw and spend the money, in addition to 19 percent where both husband and wife can withdraw and spend the banked money. Moreover, the husband has remained 100 percent the head of the family, 86.86 percent the controller of the household income and 48.94 percent the decision-maker, with only 1.27 percent of the wives perceived as the decision-maker and controller of household incomes. Furthermore, only 9.44 percent of husbands are mentioned as basic needs providers and 89.70 indicated that providing basic needs is a shared obligation. There is a big inequality in the ownership of family assets, with 54.11 percent of the husbands indicated as sole owners, 45.45 percent as joint owners with their wives and only 0.43 percent of the wives indicated as sole owners of their accumulated assets. Similarly, whereas about 20 percent of the married women interviewees mentioned that their husbands do not control their incomes, the majority, over 80 percent, of the married women shared that their husbands do not contribute to or do not spend on household expenses and utilities when their wives are earning. In such cases, husbands were seen to exercise indirect control over their wives’ incomes and, consequently, make decisions on how the wives should spend their incomes. In some other instances, men were said to convincingly or forcefully put their wives’ incomes or family resources to their personal gains, thus manipulating or exploiting women. My study further noted that while married women own production activities (in professional employ-

224 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level ment or in their IGA/Ps) irrespective of their education level or background (urban or rural), most husbands tend to own the outcomes. My study therefore concludes that women’s efforts have remained a means to improve the well- being of their families in terms of the fulfillment of basic needs that were previously lacking. Additionally, their achievements have not necessarily improved gender relations in the use, control and ownership of family resources. Moreover, women’s improved incomes have not consequently improved their decision-making possibilities relative to those of their husbands. Additionally, my study noted that more women were increasingly seen in IGA/Ps in the open public space, although the milieu under which they operate is still gender-discriminative. Similarly, despite several years of implementation of women’s empowerment, the majority of married women in Ankore families are still influenced by public criticism or opinions and societal perceptions of their actions. As such, this study did not witness an improved difference in women’s decision-making, since society, friends, parents and relatives still have a big influence on their decision-making processes. Like- wise, my study did not see a big difference in decision-making possibilities of married women in formal professional sectors compared to those in IGA/Ps sectors, as similar manipulation experiences and influences of public opinion were shared. The only difference was reported in the methods of manipulation and the extent to which different women are exploited, but generally the accumulated family resources, their use and control have largely remained their husbands’ right and treasure. My study concludes that economic empowerment of married women in Ankore families and their contributions to family needs are welcomed, but women’s control and ownership of the resulting family resources and making autonomous decisions independent of their husbands is unacceptable in Ankore family relations. Undoubtedly, as part of decision-making, there are some 25 percent of married women who have stood their ground to control and own their earned resources within marital and family relations. However, this study found that the majority (about 80 percent) of married women in Ankore are resigned to accept their husbands’ decisions in order to maintain their family relations, irrespective of the known exploitations. A small portion of separated women (0.2 percent) were opting to remain separate from their husbands. This study concluded that the traditional social systems and values that govern marriage and family institutions are still strong and binding. With the majority of women preferring to keep family relations over controlling and owning family resources, the empowerment of married women seems more of a vision than a reality. This study confirmed that in the case of Ankore families, improved

Discussion and conclusion 225 incomes as empowerment strategies have not enhanced or improved the position of married women in resource use, control, ownership and decision- making relative to their husbands in family relations. My other questions in Chapter 6 focused on women’s increased participation in political and policy-making positions, existing legal institutions in control of gender-based violence and improved women’s decision-making possibilities relative to their husbands in family relations. Based on the increase in unresolved cases of reported gender-based violence (68 percent, keeping in mind that given the high secrecy of marital and family matters, most cases are never reported), despite the increasing number of women in national policy- making positions and the existence of intervening legal institutions, my study concludes that women’s empowerment strategies have not achieved gender parity and equality in decision-making possibilities at the household level. This conclusion is based on the findings that confirm the increasing prevalence of marital conflicts in Ankore families with deficiencies in both traditional indigenous and Western-oriented legal systems. This study revealed that while the traditional family relations problems and mechanisms of the rule of the people to resolve the conflicts are still evident, they are as dysfunctional as the adopted Western-oriented legal system of the rule of law, which, in most cases, is deviant and contradictory to Ankore cultural practices. Moreover, this study found that even socio-economically and politically high-placed and educated married women, who are well aware of their human rights (more so than the unschooled women with lower social and economic status), are also victims of gender inequality in family relations. This study noted that mostly married women in urban places with small incomes (rather than rural-based and professional women) quite often use the legal rule of law court system in resolving their family conflicts. Contrary to the expected choice of intervening mechanism, well aware of their human rights (more so than unschooled women) and able to pay the costs that are involved, the majority of the educated married women revealed that they do not wish to publicize their family issues, well aware of getting no solutions to their plights from the legal institutions. Moreover, the majority of my participants expressed dissatisfaction and discomfort with using traditional indigenous mechanisms in resolving family conflicts when the need arises. Furthermore, my study noted several contradictory shortfalls associated with the implementation of foreign legal Western-oriented approaches that are neither fully understood nor appreciated or appropriate in the secretive context and privacy attached to marital and traditional family relations. For instance, it was shared by leaders of family protection institutions that with little given

226 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level information, there is never enough evidence as is required for the rule of law verdicts. Hence most reported cases remain under investigation or are dismissed, which is a demoralizing factor for married women with family problems. With such incongruity in legal institutions with indigenous traditional practices, my study concluded that the increasing number of women in policy- making positions and the existence of intervening protective institutions as empowerment mechanisms have not necessarily improved married women’s status to attain equality with men in decision-making nor have they granted them protection. My study also revealed that certain individual women will in any given circumstance use any of the existing mechanisms that seem to offer them better solutions for their protection in solving marital and family conflicts. Furthermore, as a result of weaknesses in both traditional and Western approaches to conflict resolution, the frustrated party (husbands or wives) sometimes takes the law into their own hands (Wikigender, 2008). I further noted that Ankore women seem to have been better positioned and protected in family relations in traditional pre-colonial times relative to subsequent times. Thus, despite the increasing number of women in policy- making positions and the existence of intervening legal institutions, my study concludes that women have not attained gender parity and equality in decision- making possibilities at the household level.

7.3 Limitations

There are some confines within my study that need to be mentioned here as they may have influenced my findings. Firstly, due to some unavoidable circumstances as a result of combining multiple work schedules, including my family responsibilities as a mother and married woman, my job tasks, career development, social obligations in my society and my change as a PhD student from Mbarara University of Science and Technology to Tilburg University in 2013, this study took a somewhat longer time (2004-2014) than originally planned. My fieldwork was done largely between 2006 and 2009 and hence my findings are based on that period. Since societies are dynamic and perceptions of people change over time, it might be that some of the married women participants may have already developed different views on women’s empowerment or mechanisms of improving their family decision-making possibilities regarding the use, control and ownership of family resources. However, I heard similar shared experiences through my revived radio programs (2013 and 2014) and literature up to

Discussion and conclusion 227

2013 (Mutisi, 2011; Ndagire, 2013; Okwii, 2013; Olanya, 2012; UNDP, 2011b, 2012c). Secondly, epistemologically, whereas there are lots of similarities that came up in the life experiences shared, there are also levels of differences that transpired in the views held by participants about their traditional practices in Chapter 4, measures of women’s empowerment attainment in Chapter 5 and valued mechanisms for conflict resolution in Chapter 6. Additionally, “married women” in Ankore families, my unit of analysis, are not homogeneous in terms of cultural and ethnic backgrounds and practices, income levels, attained education in the form of knowledge, skills, exposure and competence for survival and policy awareness for the protection of their rights, all of which determine their perceptions of women’s empowerment and family decision- making. Such multiple differences may limit some of the generalizations made from women’s shared responses and experiences and may create some difficulties when one wants to apply them across the board to all women in the various categories in Ankore family relations and to other ethnic groups in Uganda. Thirdly, for purposes of having more representative views of Ankore families and following colonial geographical boundaries (also see Chapter 3 on selection and inclusion criteria), the area under investigation became large compared to the number of representatives per locality and per category. Likewise, although a total number of 660 study participants out of an estimated 203,000 Banyankore people (The Republic of Uganda, 2012b) is large enough, the results may be too limited to represent all situations and circumstances of married people in Ankore families. Besides, taking “married women” as an identical unitary category for empowerment analysis irrespective of the differences in the personality, exposure and nature of their husbands may have had an influence on their responses. Therefore, although this study was pur- posefully designed to evaluate the empowerment of married women in Ankore families in relation to the improvement in subordinating cultural marriage practices, their improved incomes, attained education, participation in policy- making and awareness in protection of their rights, and how these might have improved women’s decision-making possibilities, the influence of nature and personality of their husbands was not satisfactorily catered for in this study. Finally, as some women participants shared their bitter life experiences and situations, which especially in poor families also affected their children, I noticed that there is a need for family counseling services, physical attention and support together with follow-up workshops and studies in this field. This was, however, beyond the scope of my current study (see below, however).

228 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

7.4 Implications

Between 2006 and 2009, I was invited to participate in radio talk-show discussions31 on Radio West, Vision Radio and Radio-Maria, all in Mbarara municipality, and in a public dialogue at the Pelican Hotel on September 19th, 2008 on “Wealth-based conflicts in current families,” in which I noted the value of sharing some of my findings with the populace. Thereafter, there were an overwhelming number of telephone calls from my study sites. I continued to visit these radio stations in 2014 dealing with “Parenting and its challenges in current Ankore families” to share insights on family relations, and I am about to embark on a village program for improved family relations in the near future, which requires some further funding. Additionally, in reference to the overwhelming attendance and interests of my FGD participants, I noted a longing to have more gender and family relations workshops. Moreover, considering the way in which women’s empowerment has been extended to non-Western societies and its implications on women in family relations, I realized that there should be an emphasis on family relations studies at the university level in order to facilitate a better analysis and meaningful or gainful empowerment for women. Similarly, I acknowledged the need for empowerment approaches that go beyond explicit similarities in women’s challenges and address the beneficiaries’ cultural differences, such as differences in people’s free will to accept changes and in the capabilities of a given society and families to affordably find solutions to the plight of women in their marital and family relations (Freire, 1970; Nussbaum, 2000; Sen, 1999, 2001). Finally, considering the major problems rooted in poverty that require physical attention and support for some families, in 2011 I started a rural primary school to tend to the education needs of some children (gender- inclusive) in one of the areas of study, Isingiro, where I reside. Although the school is privately founded, it is run as a community project, with some parents forming a management committee to serve for a period of 3 years before a new

31 In the six radio talk-shows I shared responses and concerns raised by key informants, married women and FGD participants at different times between 2006 and 2009, which included: (1) How women in politics, with higher income and education than their husbands can or have maintained marital and family relations; (2) Bride wealth, enjugano and increasing marital conflicts; (3) Role of traditional and “Internet aunts” in marital and family relations; (4) Legal institutions and enhancing the position of women in family relations; (5) Why traditional methods fail to resolve marital and family conflicts in current days; (6) Whether increasing gender-based violence in families has something to do with government strategies of women empowerment.

Discussion and conclusion 229 committee is formed. Additionally, parents and older children who cannot afford to pay fees in cash are allowed to offer physical labor or service to school activities or to contribute required food items to the school that are equivalent to the required school dues. In so doing, some families who had lost hope of attaining education for their children are motivated to support their children in the school, which has been named “Rays of Hope Junior School”. Through school meetings and functions, parents have been able to form social networks with each other and serve as a starting point for a bigger coordination program. I am also able to keep in close touch with some of the parents that require both psychological and physical assistance. However, although parents trust me and I also have some PRIA cap code model training32 to apply in their problems, I am neither a professional counselor nor a family therapist. Additionally, although there is still a long way to go in the mission of Rays of Hope Junior School, as well as in terms of physical structures, furniture, books, accessories for games and the entire process of registration, its 3-year operational period with a population of 150 pupils in 2014 shows that it is a viable community project for family and community development. From the above implications, several recommendations can be mentioned both for immediate physical attention and for future research. To begin with, I recommend that more family studies, involving men and women, in the form of workshops or programs in the area of my study should be continued and expanded to other areas as a follow-up to sustain the created desire and enthusiasm to have better marital and family relations. Such follow- up programs would strengthen the social network support system already formed through Rays of Hope Junior School programs but also through participants of my FGDs in several other sites that can be used in solving their family relations challenges. It goes without saying that there is a need for funding to create awareness and support for the family projects and monitoring and evaluation exercises. Secondly, I recommend that a longitudinal in-depth study be conducted focusing on one specific element of women’s empowerment, such as, for instance, wives’ educational attainment or their form of IGA/Ps, relative to their specific husbands’ attainment in order to be able to identify husbands’ roles in women’s empowerment and their resistance to or willingness to facilitate and collaborate with women in family decision-making.

32 Poverty Reduction Impact Appraisal is a package/tool for development and community workers. Under PRIA, “cap code model” is a therapy approach for guiding families or organizations to do self-evaluations in order to find problems and solutions.

230 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

My findings indicate that there is a need to rethink women’s empowerment approaches. I therefore recommend curriculum development workshops or research for introduction of family studies in higher learning institutions as part of curriculum development activities in consideration of the integration of people’s cultures, capabilities and capacities in education (Akosua et al., 2008; Freire, 1970; Parpart et al., 2002). Additionally, there is also a need to develop mechanisms and means for supporting the people and for disseminating information to them in much the same way as it was collected from them, such as via village seminars or workshops with clear guidelines and follow-ups, as a way of returning to the people. Moreover, there is a need to encourage households to form social networks for a sense of belonging but also as a mechanism to develop survival skills with which to fight poverty. Such groups or networks can also offer counseling to each other and to families through village or household meetings where reconciliation sessions can be done.

7.5 Final conclusion

In general terms, my research has contributed to establishing a non-Western perspective that is usually missing from modern existing literature on women’s empowerment. It has more specifically done so by adding new literature to the perspective and voice of African feminists, most of whom are from West Africa (e.g., Amadiume, 1997; Beoku-Betts & Njambi, 2005; Mikell, 1997; Oyèrónkẹ́, 1997). With an ethnographic research approach to women in families in Ankore, one of the lesser known but deeply entrenched tribes in terms of cultural practices, my study gives a hint and a contribution from East Africa to the gaps in rethinking women’s empowerment, with consideration given to contextual differences beyond the similarities of global gender discrimination and means of addressing specific existing inequalities. My study disproves the generally explicit and seemingly obvious achievements associated with women’s empowerment in Uganda at the international and national levels through the dramatically increasing number of women in the examined strategies, namely increasing numbers of women in the education sector, increasing women’s income levels, promoting women’s participation in policy and political decision-making processes and promoting awareness of established intervening institutions for family protection and women’s rights. This conclusion is derived from my general finding that the implications of increasing the number of women in these contexts have only served as a means to other development goals (UNDP, 2011b, 2012c, 2012d) without necessarily improving women’s decision-making possibilities regarding the use, control

Discussion and conclusion 231 and ownership of acquired family resources relative to their husbands at the family level, where men and women live together. Moreover, in reference to my working definition of women’s empowerment introduced in Chapter 1 “as a process and outcome of beneficiaries’ own efforts, in this case women and men, playing complementary roles in family activities and decisions on the ownership, use and control of their family resources, taking the lead (individually and collectively) to change existing power relations in the family structure and in their societies that disadvantage them and that they have reasons to discard,” such a relationship status has not been attained in the majority of the studied families. Therefore, my study concludes that women’s empowerment in Ankore families is (still) more of a myth than an achieved reality.

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SUMMARY Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level A case study of Ankore families in Uganda

This thesis addresses women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level in Ankore families in Uganda. The first chapter navigates the global literature on gender inequality and women’s empowerment and operationalizes the concepts of empowerment and decision-making. It explains empowerment measurement challenges, states the research problem and presents the research questions that focus on women’s decision-making power relations with their husbands as a measure of their empowerment at a family or household level. In Uganda, there is a striking disparity between the levels of enfranchisement and women’s empowerment granted by the government and other players, such as NGOs, civil society organizations, community-based organizations and self-help organizations through a number of strategies in the fields of education, work and income, political participation and decision making, and family protection and women’s rights and what has actually been achieved in decision-making at the household level. In other words, despite, the empowerment strategies in place, gender inequalities and discrimination are still evident in women’s decision-making possibilities at the household level. To illustrate and manage the stated problem, the study narrows the scope to Ankore families. It analyzes married women’s decision-making power regarding family resources’ use, control and ownership capacity relative to that of their husbands, and how empowerment strategies have contributed to that power, by answering the following core research question: How do women in Ankore families perceive their experiences with decision-making processes in the use, control and ownership of family resources? The second chapter focuses on Uganda, specifically examining women’s empowerment strategies, namely improving women’s educational attainment, improving women’s income levels, promoting women’s participation in policy 252 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level and political decision-making processes and promoting the establishment of intervening institutions in marital and family conflicts’ resolution in contributing to an improvement of the position of women in decision-making processes at the household level. This chapter gives background information on Ankore and Uganda that is necessary and relevant to understand the historical origins and contemporary changes in family relations in Ankore families. It first offers historical and cultural perspectives specific to Ankore family practices and experiences and then discusses empowerment strategies in Uganda, which apply to Ankore women’s decision-making at the household level. The third chapter describes the methods that were used in the study. Ankore family relations are complex, involving a variety of stakeholders, including married women and men, separated women, key elders notable for their knowledge and life experiences and representatives of institutions that deal with the protection of families. Besides, married women themselves are not a homogenous group. For this study, therefore, different categories of married women were included depending on their differences in localities and the empowerment activities they are engaged in. Consequently, getting information from these various categories of people in relation to the research subject, i.e., the position of married women in decision-making at the household level, also required several different methods and instruments. Obviously, there is no single person who holds the truth on behalf of all Ankore people and who has all the accurate oral historical information and perception on the position of women from pre-colonial traditional Ankore families to date. Moreover, different people voice different opinions and perspectives on the position of women even when they belong to the same locality and generation. Therefore, to obtain accurate information, similar questions were used to interview married and separated women and to guide the focus group discussions (FGDs). These were triangulated with oral data of the elderly people interviewed. Such an approach was not only useful for generating information for the study but also provided for exciting sharing and learning moments for the researchers and the researched alike, as well as nostalgic moments for the elderly participants consulted. The main purpose of the fourth chapter is to examine whether “oppressive” and “insensitive” traditional practices in Ankore families have been done away with or whether they still exist. These traditional practices include male headship and hierarchical family structures, marriage practices (especially the giving and returning of enjugano) and polygamous relations. The chapter also examines whether the increasing number of women employed in strategic sectors related to empowerment has improved the general position of women in

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Ankore family relations. The guiding research question in this chapter is therefore whether traditional practices have been eliminated or changed and, consequently, whether this has led to a change in decision-making processes and to an improvement of the position of women in Ankore family relations. The fifth chapter examines whether women’s increased opportunities and improved incomes in Ankore families have also improved or enhanced their possibilities regarding their decision-making power relative to their husbands. In order to understand how women’s empowerment in Ankore families is evaluated from the participants’ own perspectives, participants’ experiences and opinions are presented in their own voices. The income-generating activities and projects (IGA/Ps) from which the participants share their empowerment experiences include livestock, piggery, poultry and beekeeping (in rural areas), shop keeping, food and beer selling, selling of clothes, saloon work, tailoring and professional careers (in urban areas). The views that individual women hold on the outcomes of these IGA/Ps and their evaluation of family relations before and after IGA/P participation highlight their own experiences with respect to work negotiations (compromise, acceptance, resistance, opposition) as personal struggles involved in addressing gender inequalities in decision-making at the household level. The stories told and explanations given during interviews and FGDs, in addition to the answers given in the questionnaires, bring out the hidden and silent realities of family relations in the women’s day-to-day experiences and activities. Moreover, home visits to married women interviewees offered an added opportunity to see some of the IGA/P-related improvements made in terms of purchased family assets, changed home environment, welfare and livelihood. The focus of the sixth chapter is on married women’s awareness and use of established legal institutions for women’s protection and on whether gender parity and women’s protection have been achieved in Ankore family relations. Consequently, the participants’ personal shared views, stories and experiences illustrate the degree of success in women’s empowerment in family relations, protection and well-being. This chapter therefore examines whether the strategies and institutions in place have improved the protection and position of women in family relations in Ankore families. It presents married people’s experiences of conflicts in their families. It explores the causes of conflicts and how they were resolved in the traditional Ankore context before discussing the current problems together with the new mechanisms that are applied and the implications on women in family relations. Finally, it gives the participants’ recommendations and the conclusions of the chapter.

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In the final chapter, the study concludes with disproving the generally explicit and seemingly obvious achievements associated with women’s empowerment in Uganda at the international and national levels through the dramatically increasing number of women in the examined strategies, namely increasing numbers of women in the education sector, increasing women’s income levels, promoting women’s participation in policy and political decision-making processes and promoting awareness of established intervening institutions for family protection and women’s rights. This conclusion is derived from the general finding that the implications of increasing the number of women in these contexts have only served as a means to other United Nations Development Plan goals without necessarily improving women’s decision-making possibilities regarding the use, control and ownership of acquired family resources relative to their husbands at the household level, where men and women live together. Moreover, in reference to the working definition of women’s empowerment introduced in Chapter 1, “as a process and outcome of beneficiaries’ own efforts, in this case women and men, playing complementary roles in family activities and decisions on the ownership, use and control of their family resources, taking the lead (individually and collectively) to change existing power relations in the family structure and in their societies that disadvantage them and that they have reasons to discard,” such a relationship status has not been attained in the majority of the studied families. Therefore, the study concludes that women’s empowerment in Ankore families is (still) more of a myth than an achieved reality.

Tilburg Dissertations in Culture Studies

This list includes the doctoral dissertations that through their authors and/or supervisors are related to the Department of Culture Studies at the Tilburg University School of Humanities. The dissertations cover the broad field of contemporary sociocultural change in domains such as language and communication, performing arts, social and spiritual ritualization, media and politics.

1 Sander Bax. De taak van de schrijver. Het poëticale debat in de Nederlandse literatuur (1968-1985). Supervisors: Jaap Goedegebuure and Odile Heynders, 23 May 2007. 2 Tamara van Schilt-Mol. Differential item functioning en itembias in de cito-eindtoets basisonderwijs. Oorzaken van onbedoelde moeilijkheden in toetsopgaven voor leerlingen van Turkse en Marokkaanse afkomst. Supervisors: Ton Vallen and Henny Uiterwijk, 20 June 2007. 3 Mustafa Güleç. Differences in similarities: A comparative study on Turkish language achievement and proficiency in a Dutch migration context. Supervisors: Guus Extra and Kutlay Yağmur, 25 June 2007. 4 Massimiliano Spotti. Developing identities: Identity construction in multicultural primary classrooms in The Netherlands and Flanders. Supervisors: Sjaak Kroon and Guus Extra, 23 November 2007. 5 A. Seza Doğruöz. Synchronic variation and diachronic change in Dutch Turkish: A corpus based analysis. Supervisors: Guus Extra and Ad Backus, 12 December 2007. 6 Daan van Bel. Het verklaren van leesgedrag met een impliciete attitude- meting. Supervisors: Hugo Verdaasdonk, Helma van Lierop and Mia Stokmans, 28 March 2008. 7 Sharda Roelsma-Somer. De kwaliteit van Hindoescholen. Supervisors: Ruben Gowricharn and Sjaak Braster, 17 September 2008. 8 Yonas Mesfun Asfaha. Literacy acquisition in multilingual Eritrea: A comparative study of reading across languages and scripts. Supervisors: Sjaak Kroon and Jeanne Kurvers, 4 November 2009. 9 Dong Jie. The making of migrant identities in Beijing: Scale, discourse, and diversity. Supervisors: Jan Blommaert and Sjaak Kroon, 4 November 2009. 256 Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level

10 Elma Nap-Kolhoff. Second language acquisition in early childhood: A longitudinal multiple case study of Turkish-Dutch children. Supervisors: Guus Extra and Kutlay Yağmur, 12 May 2010. 11 Maria Mos. Complex lexical items. Supervisors: Antal van den Bosch, Ad Backus and Anne Vermeer, 12 May 2010. 12 António da Graça. Etnische zelforganisaties in het integratieproces. Een case study in de Kaapverdische gemeenschap in Rotterdam. Supervisor: Ruben Gowricharn, 8 October 2010. 13 Kasper Juffermans. Local languaging: Literacy products and practices in Gambian society. Supervisors: Jan Blommaert and Sjaak Kroon, 13 October 2010. 14 Marja van Knippenberg. Nederlands in het middelbaar beroepsonderwijs. Een casestudy in de opleiding Helpende Zorg. Supervisors: Sjaak Kroon, Ton Vallen and Jeanne Kurvers, 14 December 2010. 15 Coosje van der Pol. Prentenboeken lezen als literatuur. Een structuralis- tische benadering van het concept ‘literaire competentie’ voor kleuters. Supervisor: Helma van Lierop, 17 December 2010. 16 Nadia Eversteijn-Kluijtmans. “All at once” – Language choice and code- switching by Turkish-Dutch teenagers. Supervisors: Guus Extra and Ad Backus, 14 January 2011. 17 Mohammadi Laghzaoui. Emergent academic language at home and at school. A longitudinal study of 3- to 6-year-old Moroccan Berber children in the Netherlands. Supervisors: Sjaak Kroon, Ton Vallen, Abderrahman El Aissati and Jeanne Kurvers, 9 September 2011. 18 Sinan Çankaya. Buiten veiliger dan binnen: in- en uitsluiting van etnische minderheden binnen de politieorganisatie. Supervisors: Ruben Gowricharn and Frank Bovenkerk, 24 October 2011. 19 Femke Nijland. Mirroring interaction. An exploratory study into student interaction in independent working. Supervisors: Sjaak Kroon, Sanneke Bolhuis, Piet-Hein van de Ven and Olav Severijnen, 20 December 2011. 20 Youssef Boutachekourt. Exploring cultural diversity. Concurrentie- voordelen uit multiculturele strategieën. Supervisors: Ruben Gowricharn and Slawek Magala, 14 March 2012. 21 Jef Van der Aa. Ethnographic monitoring. Language, narrative and voice in a Carribbean classroom. Supervisors: Jan Blommaert and Sjaak Kroon, 8 June 2012. 22 Özel Bağcı. Acculturation orientations of Turkish immigrants in Germany. Supervisors: Guus Extra and Kutlay Yağmur, 3 October 2012.

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23 Arnold Pannenborg. Big men playing football. Money, politics and foul play in the African game. Supervisor: Wouter van Beek, 12 October 2012. 24 Ico Maly, N-VA. Analyse van een politieke ideologie. Supervisors: Jan Blommaert and Sjaak Kroon, 23 October 2012. 25 Daniela Stoica. Dutch and Romanian Muslim women converts: Inward and outward transformations, new knowledge perspectives and community rooted narratives. Supervisors: Enikö Vincze and Jan Jaap de Ruiter, 30 October 2012. 26 Mary Scott. A chronicle of learning: Voicing the text. Supervisors: Jan Blommaert, Sjaak Kroon and Jef Van der Aa, 27 May 2013. 27 Stasja Koot. Dwelling in tourism. Power and myth amongst bushmen in Southern Africa. Supervisor: Wouter van Beek, 23 October 2013. 28 Miranda Vroon-van Vugt. Dead man walking in Endor. Narrative mental spaces and conceptual blending in 1 Samuel 28. Supervisor: Ellen van Wolde, 19 December 2013. 29 Sarali Gintsburg. Formulaicity in Jbala poetry. Supervisors: Ad Backus, Sjaak Kroon and Jan Jaap de Ruiter, 11 February 2014. 30 Pascal Touoyem. Dynamiques de l’ethnicité en Afrique. Éléments pour une théorie de l’État multinational. Supervisors: Wouter van Beek and Wim van Binsbergen, 18 February 2014. 31 Behrooz Moradi Kakesh. Het islamitisch fundamentalisme als tegenbeweging. Iran als case study. Supervisors: Herman Beck and Wouter van Beek, 6 June 2014. 32 Elina Westinen. The discursive construction of authenticity: Resources, scales and polycentricity in Finnish hip hop culture. Supervisors: Sirpa Leppänen and Jan Blommaert, 15 June 2014. 33 Alice Leri. Who is Turkish American? Investigating contemporary discourses on Turkish Americanness. Supervisors: Odile Heynders and Piia Varis, 9 September 2014. 34 Jaswina Elahi. Etnische websites, behoeften en netwerken. Over het gebruik van internet door jongeren. Supervisors: Ruben Gowricharn and Sjaak Kroon, 10 September 2014. 35 Bert Danckaert. Simple present. Supervisors: Jan Blommaert and Odile Heynders, 29 October 2014. 36 Fie Velghe. ‘This is almost like writing’: Mobile phones, learning and literacy in a South African township. Supervisors: Jan Blommaert, Sjaak Kroon and Piia Varis, 3 December 2014. 37 Nico de Vos. Lichamelijke verbondenheid in beweging. Een filosofisch onderzoek naar intercorporaliteit in de hedendaagse danskunst.

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Supervisors: Odile Heynders and Frans van Peperstraten, 16 December 2014. 38 Danielle Boon. Adult literacy education in a multilingual context: Teaching, learning and using written language in Timor-Leste. Supervisors: Sjaak Kroon and Jeanne Kurvers, 17 December 2014. 39 Liesbeth Hoeven. Een boek om in te wonen. De verhaalcultuur na Auschwitz. Supervisors: Erik Borgman and Maaike de Haardt, 21 January 2015. 40 Laurie Faro. Postponed monuments in the Netherlands: Manifestation, context, and meaning. Supervisors: Paul Post and Rien van Uden, 28 January 2015. 41 Snezana Stupar. Immigrants regulate emotions in the same way as majority members in the Netherlands. Supervisors: Fons van de Vijver and Johnny Fontaine, 30 January 2015. 42 Jia He. The general response style from a cross-cultural perspective. Supervisors: Fons van de Vijver and Alejandra del Carmen Dominguez Espinosa, 4 February 2015. 43 Dorina Veldhuis. Effects of literacy, typology and frequency on children’s language segmentation and processing units. Supervisors: Ad Backus, Jeanne Kurvers and Anne Vermeer, 1 April 2015. 44 Harrie Leijten. From idol to art. African objects-with-power: A challenge for missionaries, anthropologists and museum curators. Supervisors: Wouter van Beek and Paul Post, 15 April 2015. 45 Pelin Onar Valk. Transformation in Dutch Turkish subordination? Converging evidence of change regarding finiteness and word order in complex clauses. Supervisors: Ad Backus, Kutlay Yağmur and Massimiliano Spotti, 27 May 2015. 46 Paul Mutsaers. A public anthropology of policing. Law enforcement and migrants in the Netherlands. Supervisors: Arie de Ruijter and Jan Blommaert, 12 June 2015. 47 Geertjan de Vugt. The polit-dandy. On the emergence of a political paradigm. Supervisors: Odile Heynders and Sander Bax, 23 June 2015. 48 Neema Clementia Murembe. Women’s empowerment and decision-making at the household level: A case study of Ankore families in Uganda. Supervisors: Sjaak Kroon, Veerle Draulans and Jef Van der Aa, 6 October 2015.